


We Fit Together Like Dovetail Joints (Or Something)

by probably



Series: Sasuke Makes Tables and Other Fine Objects [1]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Future Fic, Gen, M/M, New Beginnings, Slice of Life, Slow Build, Uchiha Sasuke-centric, carpentry, kakashi is hokage, naruto is relentless
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-08-05
Updated: 2015-12-07
Packaged: 2018-02-11 22:44:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 30,643
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2085960
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/probably/pseuds/probably
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The war has ended and Sasuke was back in Konoha. Everything was finally going to go back to normal, right? Wrong! Sasuke decides to take a permanent leave of absence from the ninja life and...take up carpentry instead? Wait, what?!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Sasuke is Very Much Not a Coward

**Author's Note:**

> So its been years since I've put out some mediocre fanfiction. I guess I decided to write this...thing...in celebration of my reluctant re-established interest in the Naruto series. I swear, I was only curious as to whether it ended or not and then I got sucked back in. 
> 
> Anyway, this is mostly very much self-indulgence incarnate and very slice of life.
> 
> Don't expect much in the ways of action and hardcore boy love. 
> 
> In fact, don't expect much at all. This is unbeta-ed and long-winded. You've been warned.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sasuke muses the day away.

In the wake of its rebuilding, Konoha found itself expanded past the old walls that guarded it in its earlier days. Many refugees, civilian and shinobi alike, made their way to the Village Hidden in the Leaves and used the opportunity to establish new boroughs on the very edges of its borders. Everything save for the main buildings in the town center found itself rearranged more or less, in order to accommodate the influx of population.

Majority of the outer boroughs were strictly civilian, established by various nomadic clans that hadn’t really had a safe place to settle in the tumultuous years preceding the war. They were largely weary of shinobi politics, reluctant to involve themselves in affairs, and tended to stay out of the town proper. But Konoha land was notoriously safe, trade was prosperous, and the shinobi left the newly minted citizens alone due in part to their self-created isolation and cultural differences. It was no secret that the two classes of society misunderstood a great deal of their respective lifestyles, and so not much intermingling went on besides when official work made it so.

It is in one of these small neighborhoods overlooking a wide field of crops, meadow, and wild forest, that we find our very own Uchiha Sasuke sliding a table out from inside a small, dignified carpentry shop and into the morning sun. His calloused hands smooth away the sawdust from the tabletop that had settled onto it overnight and begins meticulously sanding the naked wood. 

Wait…what?

That’s right, Uchiha Sasuke, self-proclaimed avenger of the fallen Uchiha clan, #1 rookie of the year, missing-nin, probably S-rank criminal in some parts of the known world, leader of Team Taka, cold-blooded Sharingan whatever whatever, etc…was now a young master carpenter living a qiuet civilian life.

His hand brushed his long bangs from his forehead, wiping sweat off his brow. It was still early, but already pretty hot. He set down his sandpaper and walked inside to get a glass of water. 

Pausing at the window on his storefront, Sasuke stared at his reflection. He barely recognized himself. For all the hours and days spent walking and wandering the lands with Taka, Sasuke still managed to remain pale. Now, after five years of helping his neighbors harvest their crops, cutting wood in the forest, and learning every trick of the trade from his late woodworking master, Sasuke’s skin had developed a slight tan. 

He decided that he preferred being tan. It made him less…Uchiha-like.

He had also grown his hair out too. The only downside was that his hair doubled in unruliness as it grew and dealing with it in the summer heat was almost unbearable. The thickness could rival that of Madara’s. But he figured it was worth it. He looked young with short hair and too much like his former self. And the whole point of living so far into the outskirts of Konoha was to escape the baggage that he had been carrying for so long. 

Sasuke sighed, walking into the store for that glass of water, and pulling his hair up into a bun as he went. It was way too hot for just a ponytail. 

He quite enjoyed being a civilian, to be honest.

In the aftermath of the war, Sasuke never really found the energy to leave the Konoha faction of the allied forces after the release of the Infinite Tsukuyomi. Coming down from the high of defeating a near unstoppable force and saving the world from sure destrution, he was suddenly overcome with a wave of exhaustion, as if all the years of running and chasing and avenging non-stop caught up to him.

But he was hesitant to admit out loud that he was returning to his childhood village, until Taka found their way to them and asked “Where to next?” Sasuke shrugged and that was that. He was tired and the idea of wandering the lands for the rest of his life frankly made him want to jump off a cliff. His gesture was mostly understood by Taka. Karin ended up staying in the village if only to be close to Sasuke (although she found herself falling more and more in love with her newfound purpose as a leader in tracking and quickly forgot about the Uchiha. Especially since he so easily slipped into anonymity shortly after getting back.) Juugo stayed too, doing something with an animal sanctuary last he heard. Typical Juugo. Suigetsu had made a face and declared something about roaming the lands and dealing with unfinished business, punching Sasuke in the shoulder in goodbye, and getting swiftly (and violently) reprimanded by Karin for doing so. Naruto called out to him, not hiding his pleasure at finally, FINALLY bringing Sasuke back, saying he was welcome back anytime. Sasuke rolled his eyes. It’s not like the idiot had dragged him kicking and screaming. He made his choice. He always made his choices.

After a few weeks back in Konoha, he ended up staying at his old compound. As expected, he hated it. He suspected the place was haunted because he definitely felt extra presences following his every footstep. He spent as much time as he could outside of the walls of the Uchiha complex, spending time with his peers and old teachers, helping out and supervising the rebuilding when he could. It was ok, but mostly he felt numb. Years later, when he’d ponder his first few weeks back, he thought maybe it was a type of culture shock. Society had re-integrated him faster than he could re-integrate himself. 

To Naruto, his best friend, things seemed to be returning back to normal. Everything that had happened between their first Chuunin exams and the present was but a blip in the timeline of their epic friendship, such was the optimist’s way of thinking.

To Sasuke, things were falling apart fast. Days past and he felt heavier and heavier with the prospect of having to face the Rokudaime (Tsunade had since left her post, as she deserved the rest, and Kakashi reluctantly accepted the position. As much as he pretended to hate the responsibilities that came with it, he was doing a fine job, mostly thanks to his fantastic assistants and advisors) and the remaining members of the council. He thought he would be more excited to finally cleanse the Uchiha name of all the dirt and grime that had been piled onto it since probably the conception of the village. But really, the thought just left a bad taste in his mouth. He would look around himself at brand new buildings being erected and wished he could recreate himself into a man shiny and new and devoid of all the gross things that had occurred in his life. He didn’t consider it cowardly. Mostly he was just reluctant and also done with devoting his whole life to avenging the Uchiha name and all that. 

And so one day, about three months after returning to Konoha, he requested a meeting with the Rokudaime.

Kakashi looked up from an official looking folder he was examining, no doubt shielding a well-worn copy of Icha-Icha. 

“You wanted to see me, Sasuke-kun?”

Sasuke shifted in his place, his hitai-ate bunched up in his hands.

Kakashi cleared his throat, setting down his folder (erotic novel.) “Is this about—“

“No!” Sasuke interrupted. “Ahh, excuse me, no. Hokage…sama.” His face scrunched as if he had a bad taste in his mouth. He had long since stopped referring to Kakashi as sensei, unlike Naruto or Sakura, and he didn’t usually speak to the man so formally on the outside either, not really caring enough about how that reflected on him as a subordinate. But within these walls and under the intense gaze of his former teacher, he felt super exposed and super uncomfortable. And he wanted to butter the man up.

“Try to act less comfortable, Sasuke-kun. Now, what is it you want?”

A heavy sigh. “I would like to formally request to be released of my duties as a Leaf-ninja.”

Kakashi raised his eyebrows. Definitely not was he was expecting at all, although he wasn’t exactly sure what he was expecting. “Maa…that’s a lot of paperwork and red tape I would have to go through to approve that. Do you get a kick out of making my life difficult? What makes you decide this, so out of the blue, anyway? And we made such an effort to get you back in the good graces of this village.”

“I just…don’t want this life anymore,” Sasuke closed his eyes ran his hands through his hair. He had already begun growing it out in those early days and it was already near shoulder-length. Impressive, he thought absently. He had so much more to say but couldn’t find the energy or words to explain. Kakashi, thankfully, understood everything he couldn’t put into words. “I know it might be selfish of me to say that considering all the shit that I’ve cause--on purpose and by association—but I’m just so fucking tired of perpetuating this system that’s literally done nothing for me but ruin my life. It just…sucks.”

Kakashi considered the man in front of him. He never knew him to be so honest and was taken aback. “You do intend on staying?” 

Sasuke opened his eyes at that, knitting his eyebrows together in frustration. “Well, yeah, of course. All I want is to step down from my position as a ninja, not go on some self-indulgent blood thirsty quest. I’m not 12.”

This time it was Kakashi’s turn to roll his eyes. “I never said you were. But even so I had to be sure. Naruto is about obsessed as they come and frankly I can’t really afford to let him chase after you like some crazed roadie. He’s needed here. Like a lot.”

“You have my word,” Sasuke said, mockingly raising his hand.

Kakashi examined his former student. He had changed considerably in the past few months. He was still mostly a silent observer amongst his peers, but he was a lot more passive and genuinely calm. Definitely not the murderous traitor that he encountered many times before the onset of the war. And while he seemed to have found his way back into the close-knit rookie nine, and there were times where he seemed to really enjoy the company, Kakashi found Sasuke appear more and more desperate for something everyday. Desperate for what, he couldn’t put his finger on, but seeing the young man in front of him now, he knew that Sasuke was itching for some kind of escape. Kakashi reckoned that that was all Sasuke had ever wanted in his life ever since the Uchiha massacre. Everything he did was some roundabout way of running from things he didn’t want to face, most of them revolving around the legacy of his clan. He couldn’t really blame him, all things considered.

At that moment Kakashi felt an unwavering sympathy for Sasuke. As annoying as it would be to expedite Sasuke’s request, he would do this one favor for him. Nothing that really mattered ever came easy for Sasuke, so Kakashi thought now is as any good a time to use his power to give Sasuke this one break. 

“Maaah, I suppose I can make this one exception for you. You’re lucky this time around. Now, get out of my sight, Sasuke-kun. Consider yourself a former Konoha lackey. Stay out of trouble, though. Or you’ll be answering to me.”

Relief flooded Sasuke’s face. He stepped up to the desk and set the hitai-ate in front of Kakashi. “Thank you…sensei.”

Kakashi placed his hand on top of the forehead protector as he watched Sasuke leap out of his window and through the rooftops of Konoha. He idly wondered how Naruto, who had just the other day left for a three month long diplomacy mission to Suna, was going to take the news. He shrugged and picked up his book, forgoing the cover of the folder now that company was gone. He would deal with Naruto when the time came. After all, Sasuke probably timed this for a reason.

Sasuke had been overjoyed. The meeting with Kakashi had gone smoother than anticipated. Now he could finally life a life anew. He walked into his compound and gathered his few belongings, everything fitting into a small rucksack. He left most of his weaponry and belongings behind, keeping only his katana and summoning contract. Locking the gates of the Uchiha compound for the last time, Sasuke set off in the direction of a neighborhood he had familiarized himself with in the past few months. Within the hour he spent walking (Konoha had really, really grown) Sasuke found himself in an outer borough of the village, home to many formerly nomadic tribes. During the early stages of rebuilding, he helped out a local carpenter there and helped create wooden furniture for people’s homes and had kept in contact with him ever since, picking up small bits of knowledge whenever he felt like repairing something.

He approached the storefront of Takumi’s Carpentry and peeked inside. He saw the old man sitting inside, idly carving a block of wood. Bells over the doorway jingled as he opened the door and Takumi looked up, giving the familiar face a partially toothless smile.

“Well well, look who it is! Haven’t seen you in awhile. What brings you to these parts, my boy?”

Sasuke gave a light smile. He really enjoyed speaking with Takumi. 

“Ahh, I was wondering if the space above your shop was still vacant? I decided to move out of my complex…it’s too big for just me,” and probably too haunted to rent out he finished in his head. 

Takumi examined the young Uchiha. “Yeah, it’s still empty. I ain’t gonna give it away for free.”

“I have money.”

At that, Takumi shook his head and chuckled to himself. “I don’t want your money, boy. I want you to work for me. I see your potential. I think you’d make a fine woodworker. Besides, I’m getting old and won’t be around forever. I need someone to keep this little place going. Would you care to become my apprentice, in exchange for a place to call your own?”

That was enough to convince Sasuke. He honestly couldn’t believe his luck. He was desperate to erase any semblance of being a shinobi and so put all of his energy and efforts into learning the meticulous craft of woodworking. It required nothing but sweat and dedication, two things Sasuke had more than enough of. And finally he’d be able to put all his energy into creating a useful object, rather than utterly destroying people’s lives through contracted missions.

Eventually, Sasuke’s apprenticeship grew into mastery, spending the better parts of next five years traveling around to different countries, building a network of connections with woodworkers in neighboring villages, and learning new techniques. With the sad and untimely death of Takumi, he had become the sole proprieter of Takumi’s Carpentry. He kept the name as an homage to the old man, of course. And with it, he made a more than decent living, having gained notoriety for beautifully handcrafted custom furniture throughout the lands and a good amount of loyal followers, especially amongst the nobility. 

The best part of all was he hadn’t ran into or spoken to any of his former friends in those five years. He missed them some days, but he relished in this new found anonymity. Nobody in the neighborhood knew a thing about the Uchiha name, let alone he was formerly a shinobi, or anything about his questionable past, except for a few choice people. They had spent much of their lives traveling the lands, focusing only on their survival, and only giving a damn about ninjas when it made their lives inconvenient (read: the Fourth Shinobi World War.) 

It was a loud thunk that jolted him from his long-winded trip down memory lane. Setting his glass of water down, he ventured outside to his storefront. After a couple seconds, his face fell, looking on in horror at an incoming silhouette of a friend he hadn’t seen (had probably kind of been avoiding) for years.

“Uhhhhh…” was all he could get out before he was blinded by a swirling ball of chakra.


	2. SASUKEEEEEEHHH

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is chapter two out of....I don't know how many.
> 
> Ughhhh...what am I doing with my life.

“SASUKEEEEEHHHHHHHHH”

The man in question was rooted in his place. He squinted his eyes shut, bracing for impact, and holding up a flimsy scrap of wood for protection, but also shielding his the table from any damage. He had never felt so pathetic, but also if that table was chipped even a little there would be hell to pay.

However, bodily impact never occurred. Instead, he felt the wall behind him explode into shards from the pure whirling energy of Naruto’s Rasengan, and when he opened his eyes and looked to the right, he saw Naruto’s arm lodged into the side of Takumi’s Carpentry, and Naruto himself staring defiantly at Sasuke. Well, this was certainly unexpected.

“I expect you to pay for these damages…Usuratonkachi.”

Sasuke smirked. His wit never failed him. A look into Sasuke’s inner-conscious would find the image of Sasuke preening himself and shooting handguns at his reflection.

Naruto, however, was not amused. He had spent his entire adolescence chasing after Sasuke and after finding out that Sasuke had no intentions of leaving Konoha after the war, he thought that things would finally return back to normal or something along those lines. And they had…for a while.

Turns out, Sasuke had disappeared yet again just three months after returning to Konoha! And under Naruto’s own nose no less. He still remembered Kakashi casually mentioning Sasuke stepping down from his duties as a shinobi after asking the Rokudaime if he had seen the Uchiha. After all, he had just returned from a long mission out in Suna, and he really missed Sasuke, and wait WHAT? 

“KAKASHI-SENSEI ARE YOU FUCKING OUT OF YOUR MIND?!” 

Kakashi smiled sheepishly. “Well, you asked.”

“How could you allow that? Where is he? Where is that good for nothing bastard?!”

To be honest Kakashi had no idea where the Uchiha was, but he told Naruto that he moved to a small apartment somewhere in the outskirts of Konoha and he wished for his whereabouts to remain unknown. For a guy who was bullshitting his way out of an uncomfortable conversation with a relentless Naruto, Kakashi was doing a pretty fine job. 

But back to the situation at hand. Even with his nearly constant long-term trips to allied villages in the name of peace keeping and diplomacy, coupled with pretty regular A and S-rank missions, Naruto diligently searched the confines of Konoha for any clues of Sasuke’s whereabouts during his few free days. One would think this feat to be simple and over with in no time at all, but considering his longest mission to date had lasted a year, helping build and establish a working ninja academy in Otogakure, he wasn’t super surprised that it took him this long to find the Uchiha, even if he had really been in Konoha after all. 

“Teme…we haven’t seen each other for five years and that’s how you greet me? Also, can we talk about how you’d basically skipped out on me again? While I was on a mission? It took me so long to track you down—in my own village which you and I live in. You couldn’t like, send a postcard? Too fucking busy for that?!” 

Naruto retracted his hand from the large hole in the wall and clenched his fists at his sides, squaring his shoulders, and…pouting.

“I’m sorry, but if I recall correctly, you’re the one who blindsided me with an assassination jutsu instead of, I don’t know, opening the door like a normal person. There’s bells, so I would’ve heard you come in.” Sasuke pointed to the top of the doorway. “Also, you act as though I broke up with you in the most undignified way. So dramatic. You may have grown in appearance, but you’re still a moron.”

Naruto’s face fell. Okay, so maybe his entrance was a little overdramatic…

“Sasukeeeeehhhhhh, I just wanted to be friends with you again and you make it so hard! And it felt like you broke up with me. I’d never felt so rejected in my life. Sakura could say no to me a thousand times and I’d still feel a lot better than I did when Kakashi told me you’d disappeared yet again.” Naruto crossed his arms and pouted harder, if that was possible, and glaring as Sasuke rolled his eyes and went back to sanding the tabletop.

“We are friends. Now go away.”

But Naruto was not so easily gotten rid of. “That’s not what I meant. You’ve been away for so long and now that you’re here you’re still so far away. I just…I miss you is all. We got along so great after the fight with Kaguya and then you disappeared again. I mean what the hell! Talk about leading a guy on...”

Sasuke stopped and turned away. Why did Naruto have to make their friendship seem so homoerotic. Ok, perhaps there was some weird tension between them that they’d both been kind of ignoring all those years, but really. Naruto could never cut him a break. Especially now. This conversation was so loaded on so many different levels and adding those small remarks about their questionable friendship was not helping him to go about this confrontation with a rational mind.

He felt Naruto’s eyes on him as he stared at the sawdust on the ground. He wasn’t sure what he was feeling at the moment but it was pretty unpleasant. Seeing Naruto again after such a long time was disarming to every carefully constructed wall he’d put up to avoid confronting any and all shinobi-related responsibilities associated with the Uchiha name.

“Naruto…” he started. “Naruto...I’m not going to apologize for deciding to live my life a certain way. I just haven’t been ready to face certain things yet and I was breaking down . It’s not like I wake up everyday and say to myself ‘Sasuke, you know the drill, avoid Naruto and everyone associated with your past at all costs.’”

(Actually, he totally says those exact words aloud over during his Sun Salutation every morning.) 

Naruto rolled his eyes and huffed. “Please, everything about your life right now screams avoidance; and its not like I’m upset that you’re no longer a ninja. We all have our reasons for doing the things we do, and I’m not about to question your fucked up backwards logic. Can’t we just like, hang out for once? Somewhere? It could even be in secret. I’ll be dead before we do anything together at this rate. Sakura’s been telling me to just give you space and let you come to me but its been five years and I’m tired of waiting.”

Sasuke crossed his arms and looked at Naruto. Now that he thought about it, this was a pretty dramatic moment. The sun had begun to set (wait the sun was already setting?) in the distance and the street he was on had a very clear shot of it lowering itself between two distant mountains. From an observer’s perspective, he could imagine their two darkened silhouettes facing each other as the sun crept down slowly out of sigh—

Naruto snapped his fingers in Sasuke’s face.

“Oi, teme, back to earth. What’s with the thousand-yard stare? We’ve been standing here in silence for 10 minutes.”

Sasuke blinked. He really needed to spend less time inside his head.

Shaking himself out, he peered at Naruto through narrowed eyes. “Dobe…”

“Hey! Who’s the dobe now, teme! You make tables for people less important than me and below my pay grade! Hah!”

“…Dobe…before you so rudely interrupted me,” Sasuke cleared his throat and glanced to the side. “Since you went through the trouble to track me down, I suppose we could spend some leisure time together. Also, talk down my profession one more time and I will saw your hands off in your sleep. I’ve crafted pieces for Kings. Idiot.”

“Was that so hard? Honestly…”

Sasuke glared. “I’m still expecting you to pay for these damages.”

“Eeeehhhhh? A ninja’s gotta pay for bills too you know! I go on a lot of high-class missions but I don’t have a bottomless wallet! What’s a little fun between old friends, neh?”

“Should’ve thought about that before you destroyed part of my property. Usuratonkachi.”

“What? Can’t you fix it yourself? You build stuff for a living now! You’re like a master! Sasukeeh!”

“I can have you formally reprimanded for destroying civilian property without due cause in addition to belligerently coming at me with an intent to kill and/or mortally would me. There were witnesses you know.”

“Sa-Sa-Sasuke…” Naruto gaped at his friend. Formally reprimanded? For a hole in the wall? Assassination jutsu? Civilian? Witnesses? Hell! No! He would be put on probation for sure and that could not happen under any circumstances. He put his hands up in surrender. “Mahh, fine fine you win. How about this? How about I help you rebuild this wall, neh? We can hang out and do something constructive at the same time. I’ll even buy the supplies. Just hand me a list and I’ll get them!”

Sasuke wasn’t sure how he felt about this plan, but it was better than being dragged into the village’s center where he would probably run into every single person he didn’t want to run into.

“Hn, fair enough. I need to finish this table though. It’s due in a few days. Come by tomorrow and I’ll have a list for you of what we’ll need.”

Naruto smirked. “Hmm, presumptuous, Uchiha. I could have a mission tomorrow!”

“Do you?”

“No.”

“Then we’re fine. Can you go now?” Sasuke waved Naruto off with his hands, rolling his eyes as he watched his old friend leap on the rooftops and out of sight.

After seeing his friend disappear, he turned around and walked back into his shop, but not before carefully lifting the unfinished table and setting it inside. He looked at the gaping hole in the side of his shop and sighed. Grabbing a couple spare planks of wood, he quickly fashioned a make-shift patch that would have to do for the time being, just so his tools and works in progress weren’t left exposed.

Finishing the patch job, Sasuke walked up the stairs that led up into his apartment. He clicked the light on, illuminating his living room. After taking a few glances around the room, he began tidying up the place. 

Sasuke looked at the clock and saw that it was still fairly early. Making himself a cup of tea, he grabbed his notebook and began reviewing his notes for the table he was currently working on. The job was coming along fairly smooth, as expected for such a simple commission. Tables were the first pieces of furniture that he really mastered during his tutelage under Takumi and were his favorite to make. He looked at the table he was currently using, it being the first complete piece he made all on his own. He was particularly proud of this one, having come up with the design and dimensions for it himself. His hands brushed the inlaid design on the tabletop, the opposing pieces of wood stained different shades so that the design would pop.

Somehow, Sasuke had found himself to be a natural at the kind of minimalist design that was really in right now. He wasn’t sure if all of his dead ancestors were turning over in their graves or not at what he was currently doing to pass his time in this life. He tried not to think about how his life choices were reflecting on the notorious Uchiha name. He just really liked making things for once instead of destroying them. And the fact that he got paid pretty well for it was just extra. 

Sasuke shut his notebook and set down his now empty cup of tea. Tired from the days events, he made his way to his bedroom, flopping down on his bed after changing out of his dirty work clothes. 

He just couldn’t believe he saw Naruto today. It’s not like he’d been trying to stay away (ok he had), but really…he’d been so careful to stay in the confines of his quiet neighborhood in the outskirts of Konoha. And when he left the village on his many excursions, he always passed through the gates heavily disguised. He saw his peers many times without being recognized, but he never thought to really change his appearance when he was back at his shop. He wondered who tipped Naruto off at his location. It could’ve been anyone.

“I’m always being betrayed,” he muttered to himself half-heartedly before turning over and falling asleep.


	3. Team 7 Reunites!!!!!!!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I swear this is PROBABLY going somewhere.
> 
> But where?
> 
> We just don't know.

When Sasuke woke up the next day, it was only a few hours after the break of dawn. His favorite part of the day was the early morning, and he relished working on his pieces in the quiet solitude of a still sleeping village. Fate had other plans for him that day.

As he fashioned himself a pot of coffee, he stilled. Was that rustling he heard? He slowly crept towards the noise, finding himself in his own bedroom. What in th—

“Naruto what the fuck?!” Naruto whirled around in shock, halfway through Sasuke’s bedroom window. 

“Nehehehe, sorry Sasuke, old habits die hard I guess?” he scratched the side of his cheek in embarrassment. As if he hadn’t just broke and entered into someone’s bedroom just now. As if this was normal. Sasuke was livid.

“Well I’d appreciate if you didn’t just come waltzing in through my window…what if I had been asleep?”

“I’d just slip in quietly and then stare at you til you woke up?”

“You’re horrible. And a pervert.” Sasuke rolled his eyes and walked back to the kitchen, hoping his coffee was still warm enough to enjoy. “Why are you here so early anyway?”

“Uhhh, I was just so excited. I couldn’t sleep at all last night and actually spent the whole night imagining what today was going to be like. Also I noticed you put some boards over the hole I created. You didn’t already fix it did you?”

Sasuke rolled his eyes. He was doing that a lot more than usual lately. “Dobe, that was just to keep my possessions inside from being exposed to the hoodlums that sometimes plague these parts of Konoha. I wasn’t about to leave a gaping hole in my storefront. It still needs to be properly renovated…don’t think you’re getting off that easy. Also I’m kind of offended that you would think that patch job was the end game. I have standards. High standards.”

Naruto punched the air in glee. “Yatta! I was hoping! I can’t wait! I’ll get to see Uchiha Sasuke in action. I’ve asked around since yesterday and apparently you’re pretty well known in the woodworking world. Didn’t even know it existed. Maaahhh, you seem to succeed in everything you do. So jealous.”

Sasuke raised his eyebrows and took a sip of coffee. “Usuratonkachi.”

However, inside his mind, Sasuke was positively glowing from the compliments. Of course he was the #1 woodworker in not only Fire Country but just about every other country you could think of! He didn’t half-ass anything, even if it was a means to escape responsibilities. If he was going to metaphorically run away from his problems he was going to run away with dignity and excellence. 

“Hey, mind if I grab a cup? I like the idea of chatting over a cup of coffee in the morning,” Naruto made his way over to Sasuke’s kitchen and found, amazingly, an orange mug. “I mean, it sounds like something close friends would do,” he added (kind of) passive aggressively, sitting himself down at the dining table.

Sasuke, joining him at the table, stared blankly at Naruto’s sad attempt to…make him feel bad? “Is that some sad attempt to make me feel bad?”

Naruto smiled sheepishly, “Ahh, yeah, you caught me. So, what’s on the agenda today, friend? Besides getting supplies?” He took a sip of coffee, frowning down at the bitter liquid. He didn’t drink coffee at all and wasn’t sure why he felt compelled to grab a cup of the stuff, besides maybe trying to look as cool as Sasuke did peering out over the steam curling out from the beverage.

Man, Sasuke was so awesome and he didn’t even try.

“I hope you don’t think I’m going with you to get supplies? That wasn’t part of our agreement.”

Naruto frowned. “I don’t remember signing any contracts. You’re coming with me! I already let everyone know that I found you! I promised them I’d bring you out! They’ll be so shocked at how you’ve changed! I mean, look at your coloring! And your hair!” 

“Hn.”

“You’d give Madara a run for his money with those locks,” Naruto leaned on his palm, having officially abandoned his coffee. He fought down the temptation to twirl Sasuke’s hair between his fingers.

“My hair is not that crazy…” he peered up at his bangs, as if he could see his entire head of hair by looking upwards. “Is it?”

“It’s pretty wild, man.”

“You’ve changed too you know.”

Naruto frowned. “How so? I still look the same…” 

Sasuke made a face. “Well first of all, you’re hair is way short. It’s a little weird. And you look…like an adult now. Which is even stranger than the hair. Although it’s nice to know you’re still the same dumb Naruto that I’ve grown to loathe...and I mean that in the nicest way of course.” It was unlike himself to hand out compliments like that and the moment definitely made him uncomfortable. But it was the truth. Naruto grew up to be very well-kept and mature. He was sure many girls were chasing after him now with his important role in the village and his past heroics. From what he surmised though, Naruto was still single. It’s not like he’d been sniffing around for gossip. Even though he lived in pleasant solitude amongst the uncaring Nomads, he still thumbed through Konoha’s daily tabloid rag, The Konoha Post.

“Hey! I’m not dumb! I make important decisions! Just ask Kakashi-sensei! I’m important! To the village! And also--”

While Naruto very loudly listed off his credentials, Sasuke finished the last dregs of his coffee and got up, grabbing Naruto’s still full mug, and placed them in the sink. He stared out the window. He had lived five years in solitude, save for the civilians he got to know around his shop and apartment. He was living an incredibly peaceful life doing something he really enjoyed and got such gratification from. But he was hesitant to admit he felt completely fulfilled. There was something, perhaps someone, missing in his lukewarm, shriveled heart. And he was sure there was some meaningful reason he kept tabs with Naruto’s love life, even if it was through questionable unnamed sources and blurry photographs. He had convinced himself it was just out of pure curiosity and a reminder to himself that this could’ve been his life. Had he stayed amongst his shinobi peers, surely people would’ve gossiped about who he was going to marry and reignite the Uchiha clan with and etc, etc. He told himself it was merely a physical reminder that ditching that life had been the right choice. But seeing Naruto again and watching him leave after so many years left him gasping for air in the dead of night, wondering if yesterday had all been a dream, and kinda hoping it wasn’t, and how much alcohol was going to be required to get rid of any memories of the day, but also wondering if he should write it all down in detail so that he’d never forget. Stupid, stupid, he was so stu—

A loud crash and a throbbing pain interrupted his thoughts…. He lurched forward, clutching the back of his head as he looked at a piece of wood fall heavily into the sink. He whirled around and faced a very irritated looking Naruto, and stared at him in anger and disbelief.

“Naruto what the fuck was that for?!” He brought his hand in front of his face, checking for blood. Good. None. 

“You were literally staring out the window for ages. Like, just staring. Is this going to be a thing now? Cause if it is, I totally accept. After all, it gives me an excuse to throw things at you. And its good to know you have flaws.”

“Ugh, so what, I’ve become a little introspective. Sue me. And that doesn’t give you permission to throw things at me.”

“A little introspective? Sasuke, you were on another plane of existence for fifteen minutes. No wonder you have such a slow turnaround for your commissions.“

He could tell Naruto was patting himself on the back after that comment, and ignoring the light shade thrown at his work ethic (which, if he had anything to say about it, his turnaround was pretty damn fast considering how much quality he put out within any given time frame) Sasuke grabbed the piece of wood from the sink and toweled off any and all stray drops of moisture on it. 

“I’d also appreciate it if you didn’t throw my practice blocks. I’ve been working on this new design for ages and it would probably upset Kakashi if anything fatal were to happen to you.”

“I’m not sure I like what that’s implying.”

“Moron.”

After a couple beats of silence, Naruto clapped his hands together. “So! Sasuke! When should we get started? I think the shops should be open by now, and if not, we could always wander Konoha until they do open!”

“It sounds like you really thought this through.”

“I know you’re just joking, but I really actually couldn’t sleep last night. I was just so excited that I finally found you and you’re one of my important peo—“

Uggghh, Sasuke hated when Naruto started to wax poetic. In fact, it was one of the worst traits about the guy. He could talk a statue into the ground. He could talk the sun into an eternal eclipse. He could probably talk a star into a premature supernova. Hell, who was Sasuke kidding? He’s talked the baddest of the bad into reforming so hard that they actually probably join Naruto in afternoon teatime now, or if not that, performing seppuku to get out of the hell that is Naruto’s proclamation of eternal friendship. He stared blankly at Naruto, whose mouth was still moving, words tumbling out in inspiring and sentimental phrases. He vaguely heard the distant melodic hum of the man’s deep voice. He blinked and furrowed his eyebrows. When had his voice gotten so deep and husky? Also, why was it getting louder and why was his face morphing into an angry expression? Wasn’t he still on about how he missed Sasuke? Was Sasuke even listening?

“Sasuke are YOU EVEN LISTENING?” Naruto covered his face with both hands in exasperation. He was supposed to be the deadlast. He was! And Sasuke still managed to look cool and collected in all his absentminded glory. So unfair. Also: super rude. All of his words come straight from the heart!

“Yeah, not really.”

He could practically feel the scream of frustration that Naruto so maturely swallowed down. Had this happened during their early Team 7 days, he was sure Naruto would’ve come at him with shadow clones from all sides. Those were the days.

Sasuke shook his head and chuckled quietly to himself. “Sorry Naruto, I don’t mean to provoke you. I just don’t like to listen to things I’ve heard a million times already. And don’t try to deny it. You basically rehashed the same speech you’ve given me every time we happened to come across each other during my avenger days. It’s old news and frankly, I don’t give a shit. Anyway, let me change. We can head out then.”

Naruto crossed his arms and pinned Sasuke with a murderous glare. “I swear you are the most insufferable little—“

But Sasuke didn’t get to hear the rest of Naruto’s rant because he slammed his bedroom door shut as soon as he walked through the doorway. Determined to not get lost in his thoughts, Sasuke effectively blanked out his mind and grabbed the nearest clean clothes he could find. So jeans and a shirt. Pretty much his basic ‘running errands’ uniform. His outfits became a lot more creative when he was traveling, depending on where he was going. He found he really loved dressing up just for the sake of dressing up and lamented the fact that he wasted so much of his youth wearing such an ugly outfit during his Taka days. He could never forgive himsel—

“Dammit,” he cursed to himself as he realized he had been staring at the pair of pants in his hands for the past five minutes. “Maybe I should see a professional about this…” 

Nahh…

Pulling on the pants, and grabbing the nearest clean shirt, he walked out into his living room to find Naruto thumbing through his notebooks. 

“Naruto! You could’ve asked?!”

The blond looked up at him. “Yeah, but I didn’t want to risk interrupting you in what was probably another weird episode of ‘Sasuke stares blankly at an inanimate object for a long time.’”

“I wasn’t—“

“Save it. We both know you were.”

He stomped over (with the utmost of dignity) to where Naruto was sitting and snatched the notebook from his friend. “ ANYWAY, this! Is mine. Now get up. We’re leaving to get supplies. It’s a good thing I’m going with you anyway, now that I think about it. You wouldn’t know right from left when it comes to carpentry.”

Naruto scowled. “I could do it if I put my mind to it! I can do anything! I’m Uzumaki Naruto! I practically saved the world!” 

“Yeah, with whose help though? Mine. Thank you, you’re welcome.”

“It was mostly me though…well, and Kakashi….and Sakura…and Obito….and the re-animated Hokages…Ugh. Whatever.”

The two friends continued bickering all the way down the stairs about who did what during the final battle of the war and through the front door, stopping on the street. 

“So, which way?” Naruto asked.

Sasuke pointed towards the town center. “That way, dobe. All you have to do is follow the Hokage monument. It’s not like we’re in the middle of nowhere. How do you not know you’re way from here?”

“Well, rooftop navigation is slightly different from street if you ask me. Everything’s really cramped around here. I can’t tell a street from an alleyway to be honest. And it’s so far just walking. Can’t you just…”

“No. My chakra control is probably not that great seeing as my coils have lain dormant for the past five years.” 

“I can carry you.”

“Hell no. You can go, I’ll meet you there in an hour.”

“Oh come on!”

“N O”

Naruto peered at Sasuke through narrowed eyes. He shrugged. “Fine then, have it your way,” he swooped down and picked up Sasuke bridal style, who gave off a most undignified shriek because of all the ways this conversation could’ve ended, he did not expect this to be a viable trajectory.

“PUT ME DOWN. PUT ME DOWN RIGHT NOW. PUT. ME. DOWN. NOW. NARUTO. NARUTO I DEMAND YOU RELEASE ME--”

Naruto’s gleeful laughter all but drowned out Sasuke’s alarmingly violent and graphic threats. Within 15 minutes they were in the town center and Naruto set Sasuke down onto the ground. His knees were slightly shaky from the adrenaline rush and the speed, but really he was more angry than anything. 

Naruto’s laughter boomed throughout the square. He reached over and rustled something out of Sasuke’s hair. He looked at Sasuke in mirth and held up a struggling bird in front of his face. “Sasuke looks like you caught a little stowaway on our trip over here.”

Sasuke felt now was as good a time as ever to practice some breathing exercises. But not before grabbing the bird and shoving it into Naruto’s mouth, forcing the blond’s mouth shut and holding his hand over his face to keep him from spitting it out.

While Naruto struggled to not choke on the small bird currently struggling in his mouth, Sasuke heard a shout: “SASUKE-KUN? NO WAY!” and “I told you. Does the Hokage ever lie?”

Great. Sakura and Kakashi.

Sasuke turned his head towards the figures making their way towards them, letting go of Naruto’s face in the process, who used the opportunity to spit the bird out, along with what felt like all of its feathers. Thankfully, it survived. And it learned to avoid any and all males with long black hair for the rest of its bird life. 

“Team 7 reunites once again,” the Rokudaime examines the boys in front of him. He caught wind of Naruto finally discovering the whereabouts of Sasuke, and it was only a matter of time before he dragged the boy back into his tight clutches. He would be lying if he said he wasn’t looking forward to seeing his former student again, though.

“Sasuke-kun, you’re HAIR,” was all Sakura could focus on. Even though she became somewhat friends with him after the war, seeing him again after such a long and thorough hiatus hit her with a wave of nostalgia. He had really grown. His hair, that is. He looked like a completely different person, to be honest. 

Naruto’s laughter started again. “Sakura-chan, Sakura-chan, you should’ve seen. A poor little bird got stuck in his hair on the way here! I picked him up so we could travel by rooftops because something with his chakra coils and dormant or whatever and his hair was so all over the place that a bird flew into it and couldn’t get out! I had to save it!”

“Yeah, dobe, and then what happened? What happened after that? Go on, tell her. Tell her how you almost swallowed that same bird.”

“Ahh, Sakura-chan. Then Sasuke did a mean thing! He shoved the bird in my mouth and tried to choke me with it! Such a disregard for life. Typical Sasuke.” Naruto glared at Sasuke, stretching his hands behind his head.

Sakura and Kakashi looked on as the two young men continued back and forth with each other. Some things never changed.

“I have regard for life, all right. Unless that particular life happens to be a loud-mouthed moronic piece of trash.”

“Bastard, don’t try to act all tough and mighty. We both know you couldn’t kill me even if it meant all the tomatoes on the earth would disappear forever.”

“What does that even mean?!”

“I don’t know but I know you like me more than tomatoes and that’s all that matters!”

“I HATE YOU! I ACTUALLY HATE YOU!”

“LIAR!”

“Guys, guys...settle down, neh? What kind of Hokage would I be if I couldn’t alleviate a small dispute like this.” Kakashi put both his hands on the heads of both boys in a sagely manner. He closed his eyes and breathed in. Naruto and Sasuke looked at their former teacher in utter confusion. “By the all knowing power vested in me granted by Uchiha Obito’s will from the far-reaching corners of the afterlife, I command you two to stop fighting.”

Naruto crossed his arms. “Oi, sensei, that’s not how it works. You’re embarrassing me and my future descendants. AND my ancestors. AND probably Obito’s spirit.”

Sakura smiled, watching her three most influential men in her life interact with each other like old times. She really missed the dynamic of her genin team. Having been the medic for countless missions for other teams, she really never found any group of people that could compare to the three standing before her.

“Sasuke,” she smiled as he turned to her, face mid-frown as he tried to swat away Kakashi. She joined the three men and gently reached out to touch the forearms of Sasuke and Naruto. “Sasuke, we’ve really missed you. And we’re glad to see you after all this time.”

Sasuke’s face softened at Sakura’s words. He was quite fond of her, although he didn’t really know how to respond. “Thanks.” He figured that would suffice.

“Ugh, is that all you have to say? Thanks? God, Sasuke, you’re the most emotionally stunted person I know. I swear, every morning I wake up thankful I didn’t end up as cold and heartless as you, considering I was an ostracized orphan my whole life.”

The young Uchiha’s face quickly morphed into that of aggravation at Naruto’s words, grabbing a fistful of Naruto’s hair. “You asshole, I wouldn’t been well-adjusted had it not been for certain events in my life.”

“Sa-Sakura-chan, make him stop.”

Sakura smirked. “I hope you plan on sticking around, Sasuke-kun. Naruto’s been out of control without you to keep him in line.”

“Saaakuraaaa-chaaaan, how could you betray me like that?” 

Sasuke chuckled quietly to himself. While the morning definitely started off pretty bumpy, seeing his old teammates and sensei lightened his mood considerably. This was fine. He could see them all this once and that would be enough. And then he’d go back to being away from everyone. And maybe Naruto or Sakura or Kakashi would bother him occasionally, but not too often because he knew how busy they were and that worked out perfectly for him anyway. Yeah, he could handle tha—

“Sasuke. Earth to Sasuke.” 

Someone was snapping their fingers in his face. It was Naruto.

“Is Sasuke-kun all right? His eyes are glazed over?” he saw Sakura lean over to examine at his eyes. 

“Are his pupils dilated? Sasuke, you don’t do drugs, do you?” Kakashi narrowed his eyes.

“No, guys, its ok. He’s like this now. Super absent-minded. He calls it introspective or whatever, but seriously, sometimes he’ll just zone out for 10-15 minutes. It’s annoying but funny to see someone like Uchiha Sasuke just kinda stand there with drool hanging down their mouth.”

Sasuke did not appreciate that. “I do not drool, usuratonkachi.”

“You might as well.”

“So anyway, what brings you into this part of town, Sasuke? I can’t imagine you’d be here just to hang out.” As much as the Rokudaime was glad to see his student alive and well, he was hard-pressed to find a veritable reason for the man to come out of his hiding place. But then again, anyone involving Naruto usually meant doing things very out of character. 

Naruto smiled brightly, loping his arm around Sasuke’s tense shoulders. “I Rasengan’d a hole into Sasuke’s storefront and now I just have to help him fix it. It’s only fair. We made a gentleman’s agreement. Of course, we gotta get supplies though, but not before making our rounds in Konoha!”

Sasuke didn’t hide his grimace. 

“By the way, did you guys know he’s like a super famous carpenter or whatever? Apparently he’s made stuff for, neh, what’s it you said? Kings? Yeah! He has a little store where he works on his stuff over in the Nomad’s Section of Konoha. Lives above the place too. Super low-key. ”

Sasuke wanted to throw up.

Kakashi and Sakura looked on in amazement. The last thing they expected Sasuke to make of himself was a carpenter. The Uchiha crossed his arms as a means to shield himself from their questioning expressions. He should’ve known Naruto would tell everyone and their moms the details of his new life. Why couldn’t Sasuke ever have anything to himself?

“Sasuke-kun, that’s great!” He looked up in surprised at Sakura’s tone. She sounded oddly sincere and in no way demeaning…huh...weird. “I’m so glad you’ve found something that fulfills you. I mean, I didn’t really understand completely why you wanted to leave the shinobi life, but I knew you were tired. I’m happy you’re doing well.” 

Sakura was such a doll sometimes. Unlike some people…Sasuke gave a quick side glare to Naruto. 

Kakashi clasped his hands together, the sudden noise gathering the attention of the youngsters surrounding him. Well, they were youngsters in his eyes. “Well, you two seem to be busy. Actually, not really. But Sakura-chan and I were actually on our way to an important meeting.” Sasuke narrowed his eyes, catching a glint in Kakashi’s eyes that he wasn’t sure he liked all too much. “Neh, let’s be off, former pupil of mine!” He saluted Naruto and Sasuke and turned dramatically, causing the en of his Hokage rob to swirl dramatically in his wake. 

Sakura smiled and waved goodbye to her old teammates, jogging after the Rokudaime in his wake, who was walking purposefully in the opposite direction of the Hokage tower.

“Sasuke, I’m not the type of scum to read the gossip rags around here, but I really feel like there’s some weird truth to the rumors about Sakura-chan and Kakashi-sensei…”

Working hard to keep his face as straight as possible, Sasuke pursed his lips. “I thought I was just imagining things. I don’t doubt they have an ‘important meeting.’ I’d rather not know either way.” Not to mention, Sasuke had already been suspecting this before he even encountered the two in person. He wasn’t about to admit to Naruto that he perhaps had a stack of four years worth of back issues of the Konoha Post. He would have to hide those before they started on renovating his wall. Regardless, the questionable closeness of Sakura and Kakashi were daily fodder in the local tabloids, and it was one of those rumors that Sasuke had been following since its conception, in addition to Naruto’s love life (or lack of, much to Sasuke’s mild relief.) 

“So they’re definitely fucking.”

“Try to be less delicate next time.”

Sasuke watched as Naruto’s neutral facial expression slowly morphed into one that could rival that of the most constipated baby.

“KAKASHI-SENSEI YOU PERVERT!”


	4. Sasuke Has Indeed Gone Soft But At Least He Can Still Do Chidori

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im pretty good at writing filler trash
> 
> then again there's not much plot to this other than 'sasuke & naruto reunite after years of not seeing each other due to sasuke disappearing to become a carpenter and he loves the smell of sawdust in the morning and kakashi is hokage and kinda doing the frick frack with sakura'

Naruto gazed at Sasuke as they walked along one the dusty street. It had been so long since he’d laid eyes on his old friend and frankly since yesterday, he felt as though he were stuck in a dream world. And though Sasuke’s exterior was showing that of annoyance at the current situation, he knew that the man was content enough to not run back to his shop. Naruto also suspected that Sasuke’s actual demeanor had changed in the past five years. He seemed to be more of a dreamer, sighing a lot and staring wistfully in the distance. And he could see the faintest hint of a smile on Sasuke’s face. Naruto was so happy he was sure nothing could bring him down from this high.

The two walked along in silence, feeling the morning sun slowly heat the earth. The shops around them slowly began to wake up and soon the streets began to fill with people going about their daily errands.

Sasuke was currently concentrating on putting one foot in front of the other, only casting the occasional glance at Naruto but otherwise facing the ground. He wasn’t used to walking around this part of town with his normal clothes on. He wasn’t used to being so exposed and recognizable. But oddly, he felt less uncomfortable than he initially expected to, so there was that. 

And it was in this moment that a most unlikely trio (plus a dog) happened upon the two young men. Having just arrived from a mission, Shikamaru, Ino, and Kiba chalked up their tired and weary dispositions to creating the passing image of Sasuke. Surely their senses were deceiving all three of them at the same exact time, right? Probably a weird henge Naruto made using his shadow clones…perhaps he’d finally gone off the deep end.

However after several seconds of closer examination, the three shinobi realized this wasn’t a shadow clone, and quite possibly the actual Uchiha Sasuke that had suddenly stepped out of the shinobi ranks to do fuck all. Akamaru yipped.

“YO!” Kiba was the first to say something, back tracking his steps to Naruto and Sasuke. Ino and Shikamaru exchanged glances, or rather Ino looked to Shikamaru and he rolled his eyes and sighed in resignation, and walked after Kiba. There was no way they were going to miss this, however troublesome Shikamaru found it. Ino could only hope Sakura had not yet run into the two men yet, although later that day she would end up sorely disappointed to find that Team 7 had briefly reunited on the very same streets not too long before her. 

Sasuke couldn’t believe his luck. It was not even 10am and they had managed to run into more than half of the Rookie 9. Didn’t they have things to do besides loiter around Konoha? What kind of hidden village was Kakashi running? Although he couldn’t say he was surprised. He’d have to ask Naruto about the current affairs of the village later on. He only kept up with the petty gossip of the town, and usually could care less about the political rumor mill, but seeing his old peers brought about burning curiosities within the young Uchiha.

“Oh, Kiba, hey! Just got back from your mission, neh?” Naruto bent slightly to ruffle Akamaru’s fur and scratch behind his ears. Sasuke stayed aloof. 

“Yeah, literally just got back. Dead tired to be honest but not tired enough to meet your new friend.” Kiba went to give a chummy punch to Sasuke’s shoulder, who promptly dodged, rolling his eyes in the process.

“It’s a pleasure, Dog Breath.”

“This is so troublesome…”

“Oh shut up, don’t pretend like you’re not dying to know the details, too!”

“Ino, Shikamaru! Wow, this has been a day of reunions. I couldn’t have planned it better myself. First Sakura-chan and Sensei, (at that Ino deflated considerably) and now you three. Hehe, aren’t you guys impressed? I finally managed to track him down, and by a chance encounter too! And now he’s stuck with me for the day! Well, forever actually. No way I’m letting him out of my sight AGAIN.”

Naruto emphasized the last word with a pointed look at Sasuke, who merely turned his head away in response.

“Moron, can we just get a move on? We don’t have all day to fuck around.”

“Unlike your appearance, it seems your nasty attitude has stayed the same.” Kiba crossed his arms, giving Sasuke several once overs. He felt an inkling of deja-vu. Hadn’t he seen that hair before…? It wasn’t Madara…

Kiba head snapped up in recognition. “OI!”

Shikamaru frowned. “Quit being so loud. This is giving me such a headache.”

“Uchiha! I’ve seen you before!”

Naruto looked puzzled. “Uh, Kiba of course you’ve seen him before, he went to the academy with us and participated in the Chuunin exams and…well, you know the story.” He scratched his nose in confusion as Kiba waved his arms about. 

“No, no, no, that’s not what I mean! Like, I’ve SEEN SASUKE since FIVE YEARS AGO, SERIOU--”

Sasuke’s eyes widened and a ringing started in his ears as he felt the onset of a slight panic. Oh no. He suddenly remembered! How could he be so careless? He thought he’d disguised himself pretty well that one time when he’d…

“—TOTALLY MADE A TABLE FOR MY MOM AND HE EVEN HELPED BRING IT INTO THE HOUSE DUDE! ON MY OWN TURF! WE SHARED SAKE!”

A stray tumbleweed rolled by. Silence. Akamaru growled in his throat at the tension.

Sasuke’s palms were collecting a nice reservoir of sweat. Enough that he’d soon start thinking about donating to Suna, who were in something of a drought currently. He stifled a chuckle at his own joke. No, Sasuke, now was not the time to be laughing. He made a cursory glance towards Naruto, whose face was hidden from view as the young man stared silently at the ground. So much for nothing being able to bring him down from his cloud nine.

At this point Sasuke was growing concer-- 

CRUNCH!

Everything went black and a few seconds later, Sasuke blearily awoke to Naruto straddling and shaking him back and forth by the collar of his shirt, who was red faced and shouting something that sounded very, very angry. The other three crowded around behind Naruto, looking slightly concerned for the violent scene unfolding before them, but mostly bemused. Their mouths were moving too…or was that just because he was being shaken so violently. 

As his senses slowly came back to him, he began to hear what was being said around him.

“--STUPID BASTARD I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU’VE PLAYED US ALL FOR FOOLS FOR YEARS I SWEAR I AM GOING TO KILL YOU—YOU UNGRATEFUL GOOD FOR NOTHING—“

“Logically it just doesn’t make sense. How can you disappear that well for five years anyway without being noticed? Konoha is not that big and it’s one of the most elite shinobi villages. It’s as if we are living in some poorly thought out plot for some television drama. Either that or a sign we need to step up our recon and investigative programs. More than anything, this concerns me. I’ll have to mention this to Kakashi-sama.”

“Dude, I can’t believe my mom had a table made by you and we didn’t even know like what the fuck?”

“How did you not deduce a pale, dark-haired male named Uchiha Sasuke making you a table over a considerable period of time MIGHT be the same Uchiha Sasuke that just up and left the ninja ranks one day? Like Kiba, are you that dumb? Maybe YOU should take a break from being a shinobi. Shikamaru’s right, we should’ve been able to see through him.”

“Hey, blondie, shut the fuck up. First of all, he didn’t give his last name, and I’m fairly certain Sasuke is a common name amongst civilians and the area he came from is ALL CIVILIAN. It’s not like I was actively searching for the bastard. I’m not Uzumaki.”

“Sasuke, how long did it take you to suppress your chakra coils enough to pass as a civilian amongst the most elite of ninja? I know you didn’t get it medically done, or there’d be records. More, how did you test that out? This could very well be valuable information as it’s somewhat unprecedented.”

Akamaru was barking up a storm, and people on the street began to gather around.

Meanwhile Sasuke was still being pummeled to the ground by Naruto, who was conveniently ignoring Sasuke’s strangled protests. It wasn’t that Sasuke was weak, far from it actually, but being at such a disadvantaged position, using just his physical force would only prove to be futile. He shut his eyes and decided since none of the three watching the scene were going to do much except discuss Sasuke’s mastery of disguise and ask him questions he wasn’t in any position to answer at the moment, he would have to resort to extreme measures.

He breathed in and thanked the Gods that his arms were free and Naruto was too distracted from his incessant yells and screams. His hands made a few familiar signs, going unnoticed by all except for Shikamaru, who’s eyes narrowed in alarm. 

Chi chi chi…

Naruto stopped immediately at the familiar sound. He hadn’t heard that in…

He looked down and saw one of Sasuke’s hands glowing bright and powerful with a blue force. 

“CHIDORI!” and “SON OF A BITCH!” rang through the air. Naruto leapt off and moved away just in time for Sasuke to kick himself off the ground and plunge his fist forward into the air, deliberately missing Naruto by a lock of hair. He hadn’t been planning on hitting his friend in the first place, just only to alarm the man enough to stop beating the crap out of him.

The air around the five young adults crackled with the residual intensity of the jutsu. Sasuke was winded. He hadn’t expended that much chakra since the war. He swayed in his place and sat down on his haunches, putting his palms up to his eyes to try and stay focused as Shikamaru tried to disperse the growing crowd of onlookers.

“Nothing to see here,” he lazily waved away a group of young women. “Please keep walking,” he rolled his eyes and shooed a bunch of school children. “Carry on,” he sighed. 

“Daaaaaaaaaaaaamn,” whistled Kiba.

“Sasuke, you’re looking a little pale. Are you ok?” He felt two arms help him up and guide him to a cooler location. He briefly opened his eyes and saw past Ino’s slim figure Naruto gazing at him with furrowed brows, feeling the area of his hair that had just been singed off by Sasuke’s Chidori.

After a couple minutes of silence, Sasuke had somewhat recovered enough to stand. His nose was dribbling blood, and he had a gash on his left temple. All in all, it could’ve been worse, he thought to himself, though he was surprised at Naruto’s violent outburst. He’d have to tread carefully until further notice.

“Jeez, dobe, with that temper it’s no wonder they didn’t make you Hokage.” 

Okaaaay, not exactly what he’d call ‘treading carefully’ but it was a start, maybe. 

Naruto’s eyes snapped up to pin a glare on Sasuke, who was using the bottom of his shirt to soak up his bloody nose. It was a sight to behold: a very dusty and bloody Sasuke holding up his now bloody t-shirt and exposing his toned stomach to the world. Naruto swallowed the lump forming in his throat.

“Ugh…” was all he could muster up. He had a nasty retort ready, but of course Sasuke had to distract him with his stupid body and his stupid face. 

“Duuuuuuude, that was crazy. Sasuke, was that the first jutsu you’d done since before? Fuck, man. Can’t believe I was a witness to that.”

“Yeah. And it’ll be the last. I hope you’re honored Naruto,” Sasuke smirked, briefly grimacing as small twitches of pain traveled down his arm. He’d way over-extended his chakra, considering he’d all but suppressed a fraction of what he used to carry in his reserves. 

Inwardly, Ino was pleased. So what if Sakura saw Sasuke first today? She was SO going to one-up her tonight after seeing this!

Shikamaru groaned at the dysfunction of the company he kept, absolutely hating that he got caught up in this mess in the first place. He was tired and hungry and dirty and all he wanted was to go home. 

“Guys, as much as I’d love to stay here and chat, which I don’t, I’m gonna have to call it a day. I’m going home. Good to see you Sasuke. Don’t be a stranger. Or do, I really don’t care.” As he walking off in the direction of his home, he briefly put up his hand in goodbye. 

While their curiosities were definitely more piqued than Shikamaru’s, Ino and Kiba were in the same tired boat as the lazy genius. Having been on the same mission together and just getting back to Konoha that morning, they were exhausted. The momentary chaos had effectively distracted them of their low energy levels, but now that everything was back to normal (so to speak), they were hit with a wall of lethargy. 

“I think Shikamaru’s got the right idea. But that doesn’t mean we won’t drag your story out of you one of these days, Sasuke! I got my eyes on you!” Ino smiled cheekily at her old crush, having moved on from him years ago, but still keeping a soft spot for him. He was too cute not to, she figured. Kiba shrugged in agreement, clapping Naruto on the shoulder in goodbye and giving a brief wave to Sasuke. The two walked on, Akamaru following after, discussing the events that had unfolded before their eyes. Such a crazy morning. 

When the three were finally out of their sight, Naruto and Sasuke were left in silence, standing in the shade of a small building. Suffice to say things were pretty awkward.

Sasuke pinched his lips together in frustration, glancing at Naruto, who seemed lost in his thoughts. Both of them felt bad for their actions. Sasuke, for being a little twat for the past five years, and Naruto, for beating up his best friend and causing him to overspend his low chakra reserves, possibly causing him injury. The two sighed and caught each others eyes.

“Listen—“ “Sasuke, I—“ They both began and stopped at the same time, realizing the other had something to say. 

“You go,” said Naruto, scratching the back of his head. 

Sasuke grimaced. “Listen, ahh, I just wanted to…apologize…for being, you know, so unwilling to be amongst you guys even though I was so close. It was a personal decision obviously and I had my reasons, but I didn’t take your feelings into account, you in particular, and I feel bad. I guess.”

Naruto smiled and felt his mood rise with Sasuke’s words. “Hehe, never thought I’d ever hear you apologize to the likes of me. Or anyone! Hehehe, I should’ve brought a tape recorder.” 

“Dobe, enjoy the moment because it’s never going to happen again.”

“Uh huh. It seems with your newly reflective personality, you’ve gotten softer.”

“Try me you piece of trash.”

But Sasuke smiled as he crossed his arms. The air had finally cleared and whatever previous misgivings Naruto had with Sasuke were all but forgotten, for the most part. He was still probably going to get his ear chewed out later today, but for now, he was going to enjoy the friendly banter. Perhaps he had gotten softer with time…but no one had to know…

Naruto grabbed Sasuke’s forearm, effectively taking him from his thoughts. “Hey, let’s go get those supplies already! We’ve been hanging around long enough!”


	5. Sasuke Has An Apprentice, Also He Likes Dirt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> probably filler but this whole fic is filler honestly

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> school is a thing also me being a generally mediocre and slow writer is also a thing  
> also naruto is ending is a thing  
> likeeeeeeeeeee not to spoil anything but shouldnt these last few chapters be filled with something exciting and new 
> 
> like sasuke building tables w his bare handz

The rest of the way passed in an awkward silence. Sasuke kept to himself in order to nurse his wounded ego…he hated apologizing as a child and hated it now as an adult. No amount of self-discovery and reinvention would change that. Naruto, on the other hand, was turning over the prior events in his mind. For the longest time, all he’s wanted was to understand Sasuke. The guy was as perplexing as they came. Their friendship had always seemed to exist on some proverbial tightrope, precariously balancing itself over an endless drop into nothingness. Like…were they friends? Rivals? Reluctant teammates who somehow ended up creating a bond that would withstand the drama of the past, oh, ten years? Not to mention that whole revelation of the he and Sasuke being practically yet another set of reincarnations of the Asura and Indra. Honestly, what even was that? 

Now that he thought about it, the strained nature of their relationship made so much sense…

Sasuke on the other hand was pointedly ignoring Naruto, definitely not sparing any space in his brain for any related thoughts, and if he could feel the other man’s eyes on him every so often, he was totally ignoring them. There was so much cool dirt on the ground, Sasuke was way more interested in staring at the soil beneath him than to speak to what seemed to be a brooding Naruto. 

He knew that the awkward air would pass eventually. All he needed to do was ride it out, much like any hurdle life had thrown at him since the end of the war. He wasn’t sure when he became so passive to the point of being avoidant, but it happened and he wasn’t about to switch gears right then and there.

The two finally stopped in front of a small hardware store whose existence completely evaded Naruto before today. Apparently Sasuke was a regular—which made sense all things considered. They walked in and Sasuke was greeted by the shopkeeper, although not immediately as he usually would be. Being in normal clothing threw the shopkeeper off. Usually he saw the Uchiha in very elaborate garb, due to the man’s desire to stay unrecognizable in the event of running into his former peers.. His hair was a dead giveaway though. Honestly, you could probably choke someone with it if you really tried.

They were in and out in a couple minutes, as Sasuke really only needed to buy some nails and fasteners. He hadn’t really used them in his work ever since he discovered the wonders of fitted joints. Not only did it make for longer lasting furniture, but also it just looked pretty cool. Naruto was confused when he tried to explain this, as the man had caused a near scene about how “You should have nails already like tons of them, what kind of wood-maker are you?” and then after being explained that a wood-maker is actually not even a profession “You totally know what I mean. Whats a carpenter without nails?! Aren’t joints like part of bodies?”

Sasuke looked on at his confused friend. It was weird seeing Naruto, his equal and the next in running for Kage probably, scrunch his face in confusion trying to imagine the ins and outs of basic table joinery. Weird, but satisfying.

“I’ll show you how I make my stuff later…maybe.” Before Naruto could respond, Sasuke stalked off in the direction of his apartment. He eventually heard footsteps running after him. Sasuke smiled to himself. Some things never changed.

Because they were walking and not jumping through the roofs, the two made it back to Sasuke’s little home in just over an hour. By then the streets were full of people selling odds and ends, children playing, and parents mingling about with their neighbors. For Sasuke, it was a setting he had grown accustomed to. For Naruto, even though he was a top aide to the Hokage and dealt with a lot of PR work within the village, it was a whole new side of Konoha that he had never seen. Due to the civilian-centric nature of the neighborhood, and it being in the outskirts of the village, Naruto never really had a reason to visit and get to know the area. They were largely self-sufficient and tended to stay out of ninja affairs, and it was clear that this set-up was preferable above any other option. So Naruto drank in the sights, resisting the urge to stop at every little stand and store that piqued his interest. It was hard, but he knew that there was work to be done that day. From the way Sasuke was making it seem, this definitely was not going to be a one day affair.

Finally, the two made it to Sasuke’s studio. As Sasuke went to unlock the front door, his body tensed. The door was already unlocked…but how? Confused, he quickly opened the door only to reveal a teenager carefully dusting the floors, making sure to get into all the nooks and crannies of the space, looking up at the sound of the creaking hinges. 

“Sensei! I’ve been looking all over for you, what happened to your shop!?”

Sasuke sighed and shrugged his shoulders, thinking now was as good a time to introduce his apprentice to the man who’d be helping him repair his wall for the next however long. “Yuki, this is Naruto, the guy who annihilated the front of my store with the sole intention of creating a dramatic entrance and no respect whatsoever for others’ property. Naruto, this is Yuki, my apprentice, helper…thing.”

Naruto was overrun with joy. Could this young teen potentially be a precious person for Sasuke? He wanted to know all about this kid and more. Oh man he could not wait to invite Yuki for ramen. He’d get him to spill all the dirt on Sasuke and it’ll be a party basically.

Yuki eyed the smiling blond with caution. From what he could tell, Naruto seemed to be the type of person whose default facial expression was a blinding grin and moreover, probably was generally optimistic and overly eager to help people. In other words, the exact opposite of his brooding and sombre mentor. But there was something with the way Sasuke spoke of and to this “Naruto” that indicated a long-running acquaintance or camaraderie, so Yuki knew that the two were at least on friendly terms. But still, Sasuke knew Yuki would’ve gladly fixed his wall for him even if it was just some weirdo who messed it up, so why wouldn’t he just ask him to do it? 

Yuki narrowed his eyes at Sasuke. Something was clearly up. Sasuke met Yuki’s eyes and realized that maybe he had taken on an apprentice that had too many deductive reasoning skills. He should’ve tried to find someone stupider. Honestly he just wanted someone to do all the boring work and not potentially meddle into his personal life, which was the vibe that he was getting now.

“Cool. Well, I was just sweeping because you left this place a mess. Again. Also I finished sanding the tabletop for the order from Suna. It just needs to be stained.”

Sasuke saw right through that calm demeanor, unlike Naruto, who was quite taken aback by his clipped response. Maybe the ramen date would have to wait.


	6. Sasuke Might Be A Hoarder

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im literally so bad at writing, so thanks to all those who find some enjoyment out of this.

A couple beats passed before anyone said anything, with just the three staring at each other. 

Sasuke broke the silence. “Thanks Yuki. Anyway, I’m going to let you finish what you started here, sorry about the mess. Yesterday kinda took me off guard. I’ll be upstairs if you need me, but I’m sure you’ll have it under control down here.”

“Yes boss.”

Sasuke gestured for Naruto to follow him up the stairs leading into his apartment. Naruto wasn’t sure what he was expecting as the floorboards creaked beneath them, but when Sasuke opened the door, he knew that it was definitely not that. 

For one, there was a lot of natural lighting. Naruto had imagined a space similarly lit to a dungeon, in plain terms. Perhaps due to Sasuke’s ‘damaged soul hardened by cruel life events both self-inflicted and unsolicited’ image that he had nurtured since the Uchiha Massacre and beyond. Apparently he had done away with that aesthetic as he traversed the lands learning how to be a wood-carver or whatever. 

Instead, there was this beautiful arrangement of wooden side tables, chairs, and shelves. Every possible space seemed to be covered with small trinkets that created a shockingly inviting and warm space. Trinkets, Naruto realized, that had found their way into this home from outside of Konoha. He saw a cabinet filled with old, wooden artifacts from different countries, labeled meticulously with notes on color, carving style, and the artist, if known. A bookcase nearby was filled with, not ninja scrolls like his own back home, but intricately bound books on woodworking, carpentry techniques, and interestingly enough, various folktale anthologies, with bookmarks and pages haphazardly sticking out from them. Underneath was a shelf of what looked like journals, beaten and frayed and used and loved. Everything seemed lived in and in his casual glance around the room, zeroed in on a nest of blankets and gracelessly dove for them. 

Sasuke rolled his eyes, strolling forward and sitting on the cushion next to the burrito that was Naruto.

“You’ve really punched up your homemaking skills Sasuke. I didn’t know you were such a…collector.”

“It’s all for the sake of research. Just because I’m a civilian now doesn’t mean I don’t have the motivation or ambition to be the best at my craft.”

He wasn’t going to admit out loud that he does get a sense of pleasure out of finding precious objects in his travels. Finding a specific place for them to live in his small apartment gives Sasuke incredible satisfaction, as does archiving their histories and labeling them accordingly. It’s almost as if he were displacing the emotional attachment that he would otherwise place on actual humans onto inanimate objects, that this neither the time nor the place. 

“Yeah whatever, I bet you go out of your way to find shit like this just so you can add to your never-ending collection. You probably have some weird attachment to this stuff...this is why we have “friends” Sasuke.”

Of course, though Sasuke was unwilling as ever to come to terms with his various comping mechanisms, Naruto saw right through him. Perhaps it was a testament to the many ways that there eternally connected, be it through their weird status as reincarnations of several infamous pairs of frenemies, or their own formed bond of “brotherhood” (if that), or whatever else, but seriously, it weirded Sasuke out sometimes. 

So he punched Naruto in the arm.

“Fuck!” Gingerly rubbing the spot on his arm, Naruto’s eyes drifted around the room. He sighed wistfully. It was hard to imagine that Sasuke had so easily moved on with a new life, but apparently that’s what happened, regardless of what he kept trying to tell himself. He wondered if Sasuke had a lover living in a village far away. Which weird knick knacks were gifts from people, as reminders to come back and visit and remember them always? He didn’t see anything from Konoha lying around, even the journals looked either handmade or foreign. It was strange, thinking and realizing that maybe the people he had surrounded himself with as a child and after the war weren’t good enough and there was no need for small reminders of his shinobi past because it wasn’t something he cared enough about, or hated so much that he’d rather forget…although considering the circumstances, it would make sense, but still. Didn’t anyone of his comrades –didn’t he—matter at all to Sasuke?

Naruto didn’t realize he was crying until, “Shit Naruto, did I hit you that hard?!”

Naruto sniveled, thoroughly embarrassed but not fighting his emotions. He looked at Sasuke with glistening eyes. “I feel sad because you don’t care about me!” and with that he started to sob outright, burying his face in the softness of the blankets, and swaddling himself further into his nest. He blubbered incoherently, Sasuke only catching small phrases of Naruto’s rant.

“—my best friend—“

“—care about you so much—“

“—chased after—for so—seriously—“

As this was happening, Sasuke could only look on at the sobbing blond mess. He gingerly reached over and hesitantly patted Naruto on the shoulder.

“There, there..”

Naruto looked up and only sobbed harder, snot streaming down his lip in what Sasuke deemed the most disgusting yet adorable way ever. He moved his hand slowly up to the top of Naruto’s head.

“There, there..”

Naruto sniffed twice, the tears seemed to have stopped flowing, and he hiccuped a couple times, catching his breath in short spurts, slowly but surely gathering himself into a coherent, functional being.

“You have all these things from different countries and villages to remind you of those places. But what about Konoha? What about us? What about me?”

Sasuke stopped patting Naruto’s head. One, because it was awkwardly like petting a dog, and two, because Naruto had stopped crying and didn’t need his comfort anymore (if you could call it comfort.)

He sighed and got up, making his way towards a small chest, easily overlooked due to its placement in the shadows. Naruto watched him, occasionally sniffling from the aftermath of his outright sobfest. He was feeling slightly more embarrassed at the vulnerability he had betrayed to his more cherished friend, who also happened to be the most emotionally stunted and stoic of all the people he considered precious. 

Sasuke looked over his shoulder to make sure Naruto was watching. He was. He lifted the chest and brought it over to the couch, setting it on the table in front of them. He glanced at Naruto. “Well, do you want to know what’s inside?”

The blond nodded, his puffy eyes now glittering with curiosity. 

“Then open it.” 

Naruto looked at him, poking an arm out from under the cocoon of blankets and carefully lifting the lid open. He gasped, closing the lid quickly and turning to stare at Sasuke, who was staring down at his hands grasping his knees.

“Are you…really?”

Sasuke nodded.

Naruto turned back to the chest, lifting the lid all the way this time and propping it open. 

Inside were a number of ephemera and objects pertaining to his childhood, before the massacre and after, his times with team 7, a small number of items that Naruto could only imagine were from his travels with Orochimaru and Kabuto in Sound, and subsequently with Team Taka, and then things from after the war during his small stint as a reformed Leaf ninja. He dug through and found a graying manila folder and when he opened it, the paperwork for Sasuke’s release from the Konoha system fell out, in addition to medical evaluations done by Kabuto years ago. He found blunt kunai, old bandages, and completed mission stubs. 

“Sasuke…all this stuff…I checked your compound as soon as I found out you were gone all those years ago. I thought it had been looted.”

“I originally left it all behind, keeping only my katana and summoning scroll with me…but I went back shortly after to grab everything. I suppose I wasn’t so careful when I cleaned house if it looked that ransacked,” Sasuke chuckled. He started digging through the chest as well. “I haven’t looked through this in years.”

Naruto set his stuff down and opted to stare at Sasuke instead, who was smiling softly to himself as he flipped through an album of weird polaroids taken during his time with Taka. Sasuke had really changed the past five years. There was a softness around his eyes that was never there back when they were both shinobi. He had never heard Sasuke to be so open and welcoming and honest. He was still arrogant and kind of emotionally stunted, but also considerate and not as angry with the world. As much as he wanted Sasuke to come back to the life he was formerly bound to, he knew that would be selfish. His friend had finally found peace, and he’d be such a prick to take that away.

“I’m glad you finally found a way to be happy,” he said. Sasuke glanced up, not realizing that Naruto had gone silent and had been staring at him this whole time. 

He smiled, closing his eyes and exhaling loudly out of his nose. “Yeah, you know, I really am happy. I did this mostly to escape but it turns out I think I really fell into my true calling. My dad would be so ashamed if he knew what’s become of the last of the Uchihas. It just feels nice to just be known for something other than my own bloodline and all the shit that came along with it.”

“Pleeeeaaase don’t disappear again,” Naruto leaned against Sasuke’s side, staring up at Sasuke’s face. Sasuke turned to glare at Naruto.

“No promises but I probably won’t seeing as it’d be too much trouble to relocate my business. You’ve finally lucked out.”

Naruto scoffed. “So when are we gonna finally get started on this door?”

Sasuke looked at Naruto and started to rise. “We need wood first. All the stuff in my studio at the moment is for client work…so we need to get some specifically for the storefront.”

“Wha—are you serious? Another field trip??? Am I ever gonna do this building thing? Can’t we just get Yamato to do his Senju thing???”

“No, let’s GO.”

Naruto signed in resignation, following Sasuke out the door. “Fine.”

The two passed Yuki, who had now gone on to staining the table for the Suna client. He gave Sasuke a curious look. “Where are you guys headed?”

Sasuke was about to answer, but Naruto beat him to it. “We’re getting wood or something. Apparently all this—“ he swept his arm around the cluttered studio, “—is reserved for clients.”

Yuki narrowed his eyes, only to be met by more narrowed eyes from Sasuke. 

Sasuke ushered Naruto out the door, giving a half-hearted wave and thank you to Yuki, who scoffed to himself. “Boss is so fucking transparent. There is plenty of scrap for that wall and he knows it. Going to get some more wood, yeah right.”


	7. Sasuke Gets Sweaty and Cuts Down a Tree

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> here we find our two heroes walking thru a wooded land with a chainsaw. one of our heroes has questionable mental capacity for safely handling such dangerous equipment around people. the other has never used a chainsaw in his life because he's a working ninja.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> its winter break but also what even is this, also please excuse my terrible writers research. i vaguely googled how to use chainsaw and how to cut tree with chainsaw. im not a writer. i draw things. what am i doing?????

Sasuke and Naruto walked in step around the back of Sasuke’s little shop and studio. As they weaved through a few alleyways, they eventually came across a small meadow surrounded on all sides with trees. They didn’t call it the Village Hidden in the Leaves for nothing, obviously. The area actually reminded Naruto of the training grounds nearer to the center of the village, except the only difference was the lack of training posts, cleared patches of ground, and small indications of land disturbances like singed brush, or splintered and uprooted trees. At least, that’s what all the training grounds looked like after Naruto was through with them.

As they made their way across the meadow, a small shack materialized in the distance. Eventually reaching it, Sasuke entered and within the minute returned with a huge chainsaw and goggles strapped around his forehead. Naruto gaped. He assumed that Sasuke would just have him use his chakra to make things easier. Sasuke smirked at Naruto’s expression and with a few deft movements, he placed the chainsaw between his legs and pulled at the handle until a loud roaring noise was heard. Naruto jumped and yelped, completely caught off guard as Sasuke laughed and started the chainsaw for real, pretending to lunge after his friend with the very real and dangerous tool in his hands.

“Are you—Sasuke this is NOT cool, get that the fuck away from me you psychopath! You of all people should KNOW NOT TO PLAY WITH CHAINSAWS.”

Sasuke kept laughing as he turned off the chainsaw, setting it on his shoulder and walking ahead to the trees. He looked behind him at a visibly shaken Naruto with challenging eyes. “You comin’ or what?”

After a couple beats, Naruto squared his shoulders and followed after his friend, cuffing him in the back of the head as he passed him. “Don’t ever scare me like that again! I almost pissed myself. Getting hacked to pieces is something Kurama probably CAN’T fix and I’d appreciate it if you’d refrain from sawing off my limbs.”

Sasuke rubbed his head and gazed lazily at Naruto. “You mean you didn’t piss yourself?” 

Naruto narrowed his eyes. “Asshole,” he muttered under his breath. “I could probably cut a tree down faster with my chakra than that goddamn piece of metal.”

Sasuke smirked. “You know I could go back and get an axe and we can see how well you do?”

“Wait…I’m doing it?” Naruto spluttered. He’d never used a chainsaw in his life. “But I’ve never used a chainsaw in my life!” 

“I had a first time too, you know, “ replied Sasuke, leveling Naruto with an intense stare. He was only joking with the half-hearted subtle implication, but seeing Naruto’s face redden slowly but intensely as he at first misinterpreted the meaning of ‘first time’ was worth pretending to be serious for longer than he intended. He broke face eventually and laughed, causing Naruto’s face to scrunch up in a most sour expression. 

“Ugh shut up! I –Me—there …whatever, just teach me how to use the damn chainsaw.”

They trudged along, with Sasuke giving casual glances at an irritated Naruto, who was currently grumbling incoherent curses under his breath, most likely directed towards Sasuke. He didn’t mind though. In fact there was really no reason for either of them to be out here, seeing as he had plenty of scrap wood back at his studio. Thankfully Yuki kept his mouth shut on that fact. Sasuke found himself enjoying the company of his old friend, though the day started off with him begrudgingly accepting the fate of Naruto being his old obnoxious self, Sasuke realized that with his new, more complacent attitude, being around Naruto was far less irritating than when they were younger. They were no longer direct rivals, as they’ve diverged into very different paths and he acknowledged his friend’s skill in a very clear way now , without the veil of ‘I should be better.’ Sasuke had carpentry and woodworking and Naruto was a shinobi. He signed through his nose. Maybe finally their friendship could find some level ground…perhaps all this time this was the fate of the Uchi—

“Oy, Sasuke!” 

Sasuke’s musings were interrupted by Naruto’s fingers snapping in front of his face. 

“You were doing it again…wow, you really need to spend some time out of your own head. Things can’t be that exciting up there, I mean, you’re the most dull person I know.”

“Hn.” On second though, Naruto will forever annoy him and that was a fact. He couldn’t wait for the day to be over and for the blond to be out of his hair and away from his peace and quiet.

“Are we ever gonna cut down this tree? There’s millions all around us and we’ve been walking for…15 minutes already!”

“You are the most impatient imbecile I know. What’s wrong with a nice stroll?”

“Ughhh.”

“But if you absolutely cannot wait, this oak right here seems suitable.”

Naruto rolled his eyes. “Finally. Now gimme that chainsaw and tell me how to use it.”

Sasuke handed him the chainsaw, placing Naruto’s hands one by one in the proper position. When he finally let go, Naruto nearly dropped the piece of machinery on the ground with a thunk. He wasn’t weak by any means, just had underestimated the weight. “Aw man, I don’t have the muscle memory for this, are you sure you want me to do this?? Learning for you was probably cake Mr. Sharingan, ugh.”

Sasuke surveyed the scene: Naruto currently crouching over a dangerous chainsaw and stress sweating. He could clearly see him fumbling his way to turning it on and then losing control…maybe this wasn’t such a good idea. He remembered his first try, and that had nearly ended with Takumi losing half an arm…

“Ok, you’re right, I definitely don’t trust you with this. You’re too much of a moron.” 

Relief flooded Naruto’s face, regardless of the not so subtle insult thrown at him. Sasuke carefully took the chainsaw back, stepping gingerly towards the base of the tree he had set his sights on earlier and surveying its surroundings. He found an angle where it would make the least possible damage to other trees as soon as it fell, placed the goggles over his eyes and set the chainsaw roaring to life. Naruto covered his ears, watching intensely at the focused Uchiha. Sasuke carefully created a notch, something that made absolute no sense to Naruto. When he turned the chainsaw off, he stepped back around to where Naruto stood and set the machinery down. It was just after midday and the sun was high and both were sweating from the heat and humidity.

“Need to take my shirt off. You all right?”

Naruto stared. “Weren’t you supposed to cut the whole tree down?”

Sasuke rolled his eyes. “I will soon. The notch is for when the tree falls, it’ll fall in that direction.” He points opposite of where their standing, where there was a small clearing in the thick woods surrounding them. “Unless you wanted to be crushed. You should’ve said something before I did anything.” 

He started to gather his hair up into a high bun, pulling an elastic around to secure it. Naruto wiped sweat off his brow, lightly brushing his short bangs back. He wasn’t sure when he would ever get over the classic features that graced Sasuke’s face. He truly was a sight. Sasuke caught his eye and gave him a lopsided smile, hoisting the chainsaw up and bringing it back to life. He grinned maniacally and somehow Naruto got the feeling that handing Sasuke a chainsaw and teaching him how to use one was probably not the smartest thing his master had decided to do. He backed away a couple steps as Sasuke began sawing a straight line opposite of the notch he had previously made. His eyes tensed with concentration as he slowly eased the chainsaw through the wood, almost like butter. 

Eventually the tree made a creaking noise. Sasuke turned his chainsaw off, setting it down on the ground before he nudged the tree. Slowly it cracked, branches hitting other branches, and creating a loud boom when it hit the ground. Birds flew and scattered from the tops of other trees in surprise. Naruto broke the ensuing silence with a slow clap as Sasuke surveyed his work. He turned to his friend and nodded his head in self affirmation. A clean cut. He leaned over the exposed rings of the stump and vaguely counted them. On one hand he felt bad cutting it down, but on the other, it was going to a good cause and he was never wasteful. 

“So…now what?” Naruto moved closer, stepping onto the tree stump, his hands on his hips. Sasuke just turned away, turned his chainsaw on again and made quick work hacking off the smaller limbs. He finally turned to Naruto, taking his goggles off. 

“Usually I’d continue to cut this into smaller more manageable pieces, but since you’re here…” Sasuke scratched his chin pensively. “You could probably make a few shadow clones to carry this over to the clearing. Or you could just use your chakra to cut these down, to make it easier. What do you say?”

Naruto cleared his throat. He had been half listening seeing as how a sweaty, half naked, and slightly grimy Sasuke was staring intently at him, asking for his take on things. Being so considerate for a change! Who knew Sasuke made such a great outdoorsy type.

“Yeah, totally! Anything to get out of this gross ass heat.”

Naruto quickly made the hand seals and produced about 20 shadow clones. Soon the quiet was overtaken by multiple Naruto’s bustling about and hacking the tree into pieces. Sasuke was beginning to get a headache. 

Within the hour, all the Naruto clones poofed away and the two young men stood facing a neat pile of lumber. 

“Nice work, Naruto,” Sasuke clapped Naruto on the arm as he shouldered as much lumber as he could with the chainsaw in his free arm, which was a lot considering the weight of the oak and the chainsaw combined. Naruto created a few shadow clones again and took the remaining wood with him, following Sasuke through the woods until they reached the clearing. Sasuke set his wood down and entered the wooden shed from before, and moments later returning chainsaw-less and goggle-less. He picked up his lumber and continued on, checking back to make sure Naruto and his clones were following close behind. 

As they picked their way through the maze of alleyways and houses and back to Sasuke’s shop, they were hit with a few raindrops. Both stopped to look into the sky. Neither had noticed the increasing heaviness in the air during their little trip into the woods, and saw only now how black and angry the sky had become with the summer thunderstorm. Luckily they were already at the shop by the time the rain began to pick up. Yuki looked up from what he was doing as he saw Naruto (more than one Naruto actually) and Sasuke enter with copious amounts of lumber. 

He smirked. At least he won’t have to go chopping down any trees anytime soon with that spoil…that was by far his least favorite activity. Sasuke was a fright with a chainsaw. “You made it just in time, boss.” Thunder clapped loudly as lightning lit up the sky. 

Naruto’s clones disappeared as soon as they set the wood down. “Ugh remind me to never ever go with you to chop down trees again.”

Sasuke rolled his eyes. “Don’t fuck up my shit then, moron.” He turned to Yuki. “So what did you manage to get done while I was away. You’ve been making really great strides.”

Yuki’s face lit up at the recognition. “Well, I finished the table. It’s ready to be transported as soon as you deem appropriate. I looked through the orders and couldn’t find anything to really prep for you because there seemed to be some custom details that still needed to be hashed out, so I just took it upon myself to practice with some personal work.” He held up a piece of jointery that he was working on. “My weak spot is making solid joints so I thought I’d practice.” He didn’t mention the fact that he had also patched up the storefront himself. The two idiots didn’t even notice! They will soon though...

Sasuke smiled proudly. “Good, good! And that was a good call, I still need to figure out some specifics for the new orders I recently got. I’m glad you’re still using your time wisely. I knew there was a reason I chose you!”

Naruto couldn’t believe his eyes. Sasuke? Looking proud?? And supportive?? Like any decent father figure? More and more he was recognizing his friend less, and for the better. He quite liked this side of Sasuke. So adult, so grown, also still so very attracti—

His thoughts were interrupted by yet another clap of thunder. He was slightly relieved. Naruto was a little confused as to why he was just now seeing his friend in this new and improved rose tinted lens. It was troubling, but also intriguing, but also what was going on. Maybe it was the huge stretch of time of not seeing him...or something else he couldn't quite come up with yet to rationalize these thoughts. Either way, he would shelve the feelings for now and just enjoy the day.

As the thunder subsided, another loud grumble could be heard. He realized that it was his stomach. Naruto was hungry. Yuki and Sasuke looked at the blond, who by no means should not have felt embarrassment at a natural bodily occurrence, yet here he was, blushing anyway. 

Yuki was the first to speak. “How about we head upstairs and I can make us all some lunch.”

Sasuke nodded, being hungry as well, but just not as obviously so and beckoned Naruto to follow.


	8. Sasuke is Convinced the World is Against Him

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The gang shares curry over a nice, friendly story swap (?) and yuki gets more screen time

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey cool another update, thanks for all the support guyz, im gonna see if i can get this finished before winter break so i dont ever have to worry about keeping a vaguely consistent plotline ever again

As Yuki made himself busy in the kitchen, Naruto and Sasuke once again made themselves comfortable on the couch. The thunderstorm raged on outside, creating a nice white noise inside the otherwise silent apartment. Sasuke noticed the scattered items from his little Konoha chest on the coffee table and began to clear them away, putting them back where they belonged. He set the chest on the ground as soon as he was finished, revealing an intricate inlaid design on the tabletop. 

“Woahh, where’d you find this?” Naruto leaned forward, brushing his hands over the smooth surface. He scratched lightly at it, trying to feel any seams between the wood pieces making up the design. From what he could make out, it seemed to be a bunch of deep-hued interwoven trees inlaid within a lighter wood.

Sasuke scoffed. “I didn’t find it, I made it. Now you see? Worthy of Kings.” He leaned forward with Naruto. “It’s kind of a simple concept, and easy to do, but really difficult to master, especially with complicated designs. As with anything I guess. My sensei did a lot more practical woodworking, since he helped rebuild a lot of the infrastructure. He was more known for well-made, simple pieces…”

Sasuke paused. He looked over at Naruto. “That’s how I met him, you know. Remember when Kakashi tried to just give me D-rank missions the first week after I was pardoned? I was sent here and kept coming back until finally…”

Naruto kept his head low. There was no way he was going to cry again. Especially not with Yuki just feet away, probably eavesdropping (he totally was). “Why are you telling me this?”

“Because you need to know it wasn’t anything other than myself that made me want to come here. And I distanced myself because I was afraid I’d get sucked back in. I hate the way of the ninja, I really do. Like with all of whats left of my heart and soul, it is by far the most problematic, destructive institution. I mean, we were kids, Naruto. Not to mention I hated being stuck in my compound once again with all those ghosts of the past and it was so much. The only way I knew how to handle it was by running away..”

Silence. “Yeah but…” Naruto was speechless. He stared at Sasuke, who had stopped in a dignified huff. He’d never heard his friend say so much, without forcing him to speak. It was…it caught him off guard, to put it simply. “Still, why now?”

In the kitchen, Yuki was busy cutting up some vegetables for curry. Yeah, he thought to himself, why are you telling him all this? He’d never heard Sasuke speak so candidly before, not while sober at least. He’d gotten his sensei to tell him some neat stories about his past while they were traversing the lands, mostly about his time with Team Taka. Small things on their travels that would remind him of his journeys with them…and other people too, that he never mentioned. He had always had a feeling he was leaving out a lot of key details and characters, and it seemed Naruto was one of them. He eyed the liquor cabinet before turning away. For now, he’d bide his time and glean as much out of this lunch as possible.

It wasn’t that he was scheming, he rationalized as he caramelized onions in a huge pot. He cared about Sasuke much like he would care about an older brother who he reluctantly looked to for guidance. He found refuge here and he wanted to understand him so he could be the best assistant he could be, he mused, dumping in the vegetables he had cut. It seemed like this Naruto brought out a side of Sasuke that wasn’t exactly tender, yet more open and comfortable. He placed browned beef into the pot one by one. He was still a bastard, but more tolerably so, like a perpetually buzzed Sasuke without the expenditure of keeping a constant supply of alcohol flowing through him. Yuki nodded to himself, adding curry mix into the simmering ingredients. He needed to make sure the two stayed in contact, regardless of how annoying and loud Naruto was. At least for the sake of his sensei who seemed to be happy before but compared to this, he could see now he lived a life of complacent melancholy. All of his previous actions of pretending like there wasn’t usable wood in the studio, going out to the store to buy nails (what kind of master carpenter doesn’t have nails?! Honestly..), and all that…of course Sasuke had missed his friend. He was such a dunce to think Yuki wouldn’t notice his tricks. Naruto might be too dumb, but that wasn’t the point.

“Yosh,” he whispered to himself, stirring the pot of bubbling curry. He still needed more information though.

Back in the living room Sasuke watched Naruto calmly pick at the lint on his blanket. “All you’ve ever asked me was why, Naruto. Why are you asking me why when I’m finally telling you why.”

“It’s not fair. You live so far away!” Naruto didn’t want to admit that he had a hard time following what Sasuke just said.

“I live in Konoha, dolt.”

“But, ugh, it’s like the opposite of everywhere that I go ever! Even your old complex is closer and it’s like notoriously known for being shoved into the shadows. You guys have a goddamn forest on your land! Yet here it’s like, a million lightyears further! I have duties that require me to schedule my outside life now, you know!”

“You spent how many years chasing me after I initially left Konoha? And you can run on the rooftops, it’s like a 15 minute trip. Also, you chose your career, now you have to deal with the consequences of not being able to dick around all day anymore. Me? I make my own schedule.”

“Can’t you just re-introduce yourself into society. I get you don’t wanna be a ninja, but at least hang out with us. Or me. With our friends nearby but at a safe enough distance so you don’t feel overwhelmed with socializing because, you know, they kinda miss you too.”

Sasuke rolled his eyes, slightly amused at the idea of he and Naruto catching up over lunch and the rest of their peers awkwardly sitting far away, but trying very hard to stay involved with the conversation. He didn’t want to tell Naruto just yet that he was more than willing to go back out there. His small encounters this morning, however annoying they were, were gentle nudges, reminding him that he was a lot different from the sour, angry, and lonely Sasuke of his youth. He’d found a niche and was comfortable with his place enough to revisit old haunts without feeling the overwhelming pressure to tie loose Uchiha ends. Maybe…probably.

He’d have to take baby steps...perhaps bring his chainsaw just in case anyone tried to ask him about reviving his clan.

For now, he’d milk it. He’ll admit, he’d always basked in the consistent attention Naruto gave him, from when they were mere youngsters to now, barring the hiatuses during his first disappearance and his most recent. 

“I’ll think about it…but I think lunch is ready so we should help my poor apprentice set the table.”

Naruto was dissatisfied with Sasuke’s response, but his hunger pangs were stronger. He followed Sasuke into the kitchen area and helped set out simple bamboo plates. “I take it you made these too?” he teased as he set down the woodsy dish ware. 

Before Sasuke could respond, Yuki cut in. “No, I did. For his birthday a couple years ago.”

Naruto looked up as he set down the last pair of chopsticks, “How long have you been learning under Sasuke?”

This time it was Sasuke who answered. “I took him on a few months after Takumi-sensei passed…Yuki’s been here since probably 3 years ago? So young.”

“I was only 15!” Yuki smirked. “Sasuke started when you guys were, what, my age now? 18? I’ll surpass him soon for sure.”

Sasuke’s glare was weak at best, mostly being just a cover-up for proud affection. Yuki was improving greatly and rapidly and there was no question that he was naturally inclined to the craft. Sasuke had been very pleased (although suppressed most of it) when he received the set of dish ware, including nesting bowls, utensils, and platters just shy of a year after taking him on as a student.

Naruto chuckled lowly to himself. It was clear that if Sasuke had stayed a ninja and climbed the ranks (as if he’d have to wait long) he would’ve made a great Jounin sensei. He supposed this was as close as he was gonna get to seeing Sasuke teach. It seemed that Sasuke was to Yuki what Jiraiya was to him, guiding him when necessary, but not letting it get in the way of his own work (in this case, not writing erotic novels, but creating amazing works of art and collecting weird shit.)

As Yuki served rice and curry onto everyone’s plates he looked up to examine the two men. While Naruto was staring intensely at his plate, Sasuke gazed wistfully in his direction, his eyes lidded and his chin resting on his hand. It was kind of disgusting, much like something he’d see at his school lunch table. The rain beat heavily against the window as Yuki sat and suppressed a shudder.

“Itadakimasu!” Naruto barely waiting for Yuki and Sasuke to quietly mumble an echo.

The three ate silently at first, happy to finally sate their midday hunger. It was Naruto to finally break the silence. He looked up at the two with a teasing glint in his eye. 

“So, Yuki…how much do you know about your sensei?” 

Sasuke narrowed his eyes. No.

“Not much…although I have had a bit of luck after getting some sake into him. He really only tells me stupid filler stuff from when he was with some group Taka or whatever..”

Sasuke bristled. He would not be undermined by his former-yet-currently-getting-back-into-his-graces-but-just–about-to-be-thrown-off-a-cliff best friend and his apprentice all at the same time. “This discussion ends here,” he growls.

Naruto pounded his fist on the table, “You mean you’ve managed to get him drunk?” He didn’t even know the uptight Uchiha had ever thought about touching alcohol, let alone drinking enough to become inebriated. Then again, there were veritable chunks in Sasuke’s impressionable life that he had been absent from…not of his choice in his defense. Either way, whaaat!

Yuki nodded in affirmation. “He’s quite the light weight, if I’m being honest. You two seem close though, I’m sure you have some exciting stories to tell…”

Naruto smiled devilishly. Sasuke could’ve sworn he saw a flash of red in his brilliant blue eyes as he gulped down his drink in anticipation for what was to come. This needed to end now. “You know I was Sasuke’s first kiss?”

Yuki and Naruto were hit with a spray of tea and backwash. Sasuke was choking. Of all the goddamn things to bring up he HAD to bring up that stupid accidental kiss from before they even graduated the academy?! As he slowly got ahold of himself, he wiped his face with his napkin and, seeing the plates picked clean, grabbed the dish ware and chopsticks and violently made way for his kitchen, throwing them haphazardly in the sink. “Consider yourselves lucky I’ve gotten too lazy to act on my murderous rage…otherwise you’d both be burning at the bottom of a fiery well right now.”

“I’d haunt your ass so hard,” quipped Naruto not a second later. He exchanged glances with the young apprentice, making an unspoken promise to give him more embarrassing deets on his sensei later. Even when that storefront was finished (which it was, and nobody who mattered had noticed, to Yuki’s glee) he’d still make time to come by and keep tabs.

“Me too, sensei. You can’t get rid of us so easily. I’d sabotage all your work and throw delicate things over and ruin your carefully established business and reputation from an entirely different dimension.”

“I’d bring your charred bodies back to life just so I could set you on fire again. Especially you, Yuki,” Sasuke mumbled in response. This was no good. Naruto was beginning to rub off on his student…after less than a day! Not even half a day! He’d known this kid for three years! Sasuke stomped out to where the two were still sitting and pointed to the window.. “Hey, looks like the rain’s let up,” he bit out, leveling a glare towards Naruto. “Let’s call it a day, shall we?” He was done.

Naruto pouted, but as much as he wanted to stay and gossip and push Sasuke’s buttons, he probably was better off making sure work wasn’t piling up in his absence. Because even though he was away from the Hokage’s offices for less than a day, one would be surprised at how much actual work Kakashi passed off to him under the guise of ‘training for the future,’ which, it was really since he was kind of (definitely) going to be the next in line for Hokage. Still, that didn’t excuse Kakashi’s overly liberal delegation of tasks. “As much as it pains me to say it, you’re right. I’ve got a Hokage to babysit. And scold.” 

Sasuke, who’d been prepared to forcibly remove the blond from his property, sighed with relief. He was glad to see Naruto but at the same time…baby steps. And also, he needed some time to think about how he specifically saw Naruto because right now, the tally marks for the times he’d caught himself staring at his friend in a not-so-friendly way were adding up way faster than was making him comfortable. And not in a “no way I’m not gay” manner of discomfort—because he was totally, definitely, for sure into men—but in a more “its been 84 years since I’ve had a good romp in the sack” kind of way, and the catalyst of that realization being Naruto was one hecker of a doozy to wrap his head around.

After saying his goodbyes, hugging Yuki, and pointing accusingly at Sasuke, making him promise to stay put forever and ever, Naruto descended the stairs and made his way out of the door. In passing he admired the seamlessness of the shiny, smooth wood, and the smell emanating from the newly stained planks covering the space that was previously destroyed by his Rasenga—

Wait.

Waitwaitwait. That couldn’t be right. He put a hole through the wall! He remembered clearly! With his own two eyes!

Naruto stopped short, examining the wall closer, looking for any sign of disturbance. He saw none, other than the marked difference between the older, more weathered wood making up the storefront and the newly placed planks. He remembered it still needing repair this morning, and before they left to cut down the tree. 

He scratched his chin, thinking hard with all his might. Yuki must’ve done it while they were out in the forest. Which means…

ThAT LyING LiTTLE CONniVING BASTArdD!!!!!!!!!

Sasuke was making it up the whole time about needing wood specifically for the wall! Yuki was a really good apprentice as far as he could tell, and would never use material that was specifically laid out for other projects. And Sasuke himself had said his next few commission still needed some details hashed out before they could prep anything. So that means that going to the forest was not necessary and he either, A) wanted to spend a little extra aloooone time with him, the amazing Naruto, or B) wanted to show off his lame but really attractive lumberjack skills and glistening shirtless chest and also scare Naruto with that stupid chainsaw..or both. Probably both. But mostly the chainsaw thing. 

Naruto smirked to himself. So Sasuke missed him too, after all. He glanced up towards the ceiling, mentally saluting Yuki and thanking Sasuke for being too much of a bastard to notice his own repaired wall. Although, he could say the same for himself because he’d totally overlooked it before too, but still. Better late than never.

Meanwhile, up at the apartment, the sensei and student just finished cleaning the remnants of lunch. “Soooo,” began Yuki.

“I don’t wanna hear it.”

The youth snapped his mouth shut, putting away the last of the clean dishes and making his way over to the living room. He waved his smartphone in the air. “I’ve done my research you know, it says here that one Naruto…Uzumaki is it? Looks like the same guy…is the vessel of the Nine-Tailed Fox…that explains a lot…”

“Oh my God, shut up!” Sasuke slammed a cabinet door shut to emphasize his point, but his voice held no venom. He was merely waiting for the youngster to turn to technology to find more out about his old friend, especially since he was pretty much known in all parts of every-freaking-where, including internet which, what even was that?? Why, back in his day…

Yuki walked over to a small curio containing small wood trinkets and stone statuettes. “I mean, I always wondered why you’d go out of your way to collect little Kyuubi artifacts.” He picked one up and examined it in his hands, looking up earnestly at Sasuke. “You’re actually the creepiest person I know.”

“Don’t even say anything,” Sasuke snatched the little artifact from his hands, and placed it back in its spot. As he turned to shut the little glass door, his eyes caught on a pile of periodicals stacked on the floor. The Konoha Post…

Yuki followed his line of vision. Both looked to each other and back at the issues neatly tucked away in the corner of the room. Feeling Sasuke lunge, Yuki took a chance and forced his sensei back with his hand and Sasuke, disabled, grabbed the collar of Yuki’s shirt to keep him from reaching the pile first. He must get to them and destroy them!

The struggle continued, all limbs and dust bunnies and floating poofs of dirt, until finally…a victor.

Yuki reached for the pile and scattered them all over the floor, looking for the one common denominator his instinct was pointing to.

There, on nearly every cover page was a grainy photo of Naruto and the latest gossip surrounding him. And if he wasn’t the cover story, he was definitely one of the sub-headliners. He took moment to read a few headlines, wondering what exactly had caught his sensei’s eyes enough to purchase them. 

BABY UZUMAKI ON THE WAY? WHO IS THE MYSTERY MOM? 

CAUGHT IN A LOVE TRIANGLE OR A POLYGAMOUS AFFAIR? 

He chuckled to himself. He knew exactly what Sasuke had been looking out for. He looked over his shoulder back at his defeated teacher, who lay on the ground, accepting of his fate. The only thing Sasuke was sorry for at this point was the distance at which his wonderful chainsaw lay dormant. “Sensei…would it have hurt to just have talked to him instead of pretending like he didn’t exist outside of some tabloid? Five years? You’ve been nursing this crush for five years?”

“It’s not a crush, I was just making sure he wasn’t getting into any trouble.”

“Probably longer, actually.”

“You wouldn’t understand.”

Yuki wiggled his eyebrows. “Hey…probably since that first kiss…”

Within a split second, Yuki felt himself picked up off the ground and hauled out of the apartment. He looked up only to find the front door slammed in his face. He was shocked, yes, but also…”Excuse my pun, but what, were you just gonna come out of the woodwork as soon as you saw him in a real relationship and steal him away???” he yelled through the door, knowing Sasuke could hear him just fine. “That’s NOT HOW MODERN DATING GOES YOU KNOW!”

Yuki quietly laughed to himself. “I can hear you laughing you imbecile devil child, consider your apprenticeship terminated.” 

Okay yeah right, Yuki smiled to himself. What an interesting day it’s turned out to be…he definitely couldn’t wait for tomorrow. Whatever it held was definitely worth skipping classes for..


	9. Two New Roommates for Sasuke (Unsolicited)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> nervously updating bc with this im kind of forcing myself to stick to some semblance of a coherent plot. i hope its not too weird/suckish. theres a means to the madness or something or whatever. anyway, im happy to report i have SOME idea where this is going. im aware the plot development came out of nowhere but then again this whole thing is ridiculous. im making myself feel better by reminding myself that chapter 700 happened (eek)
> 
> also happy new year! enjoy (mayeb?!)

The next morning, Sasuke found himself woken up by a messenger hawk smashing its way through his window bearing an official scroll, signed and sealed by the Rokudaime himself, summoning him to the the Hokage’s offices at once, for an important, urgent inquiry. 

“Are you fucking kidding me,” he muttered to himself, reading the words over again and grimacing at the shattered window. He looked at the hawk, still sitting on the windowsill. Too tired to care, he left the room to slowly change and get ready for the day. He planned on taking his time. The phrase ‘at once’ meant nothing to him, especially coming from Kakashi, and he wasn’t bound to any protocols anymore. Plus, he now he had to board up his window!

As he lazily made coffee, he went over his mental checklist. He had finished the table for the guy in Suna and just needed to transport it and collect the remainder of the payment, was expecting correspondence on the details of his next few commissions any day now, needed to finish the storefront (little did he know…), and then he had planned on making a little trip to Tea Country to collect inspirations and wood samples after finishing business in Suna. He jotted down his notes and little reminders in his work notebook and sipped the rest of his coffee, looking at the time and seeing that a few hours had already passed. At a leisurely pace, it would take about an hour to get there. He felt that was ample time to have kept Kakashi waiting…

In light of yesterday’s events of running into one too many people, Sasuke opted to wear a light cloak and a scarf, masking his face and head. As he made his way downstairs and out the door, he noticed offhand that something was off but he couldn’t quite place it. After pausing for a few moments, Sasuke shrugged and was on his way.

Meanwhile, at the Hokage Tower, Kakashi idly sat in his chair, leaned all the way back with his feet propped on the desk and reading a tattered Icha Icha novel. The other occupants of the room, however, were not so relaxed. Naruto was tapping his foot impatiently, humming in disapproval, and stealing glances out the window to see if he could catch Sasuke entering the building. Sakura had her arms crossed, involuntarily cracking her knuckles and sighing loudly. Every time either of them heard footsteps in the hallway, they would freeze and lunge for the door, only to be left disappointed as the footsteps faded in the distance.

“Hmm, he’ll come eventually,” said Kakashi from his desk. “…or not.”

Naruto’s face fell. “Senseiiiii, why couldn’t you just send me over there? Then he would’ve been here on the dot.”

Sakura frowned. “Forcing him here would just make him angry. You should know; it took you how many years of chasing him relentlessly trying to bring him back and he still up and disappeared for another five! He’s still the same bone-headed Sasuke, just not…you know…” she trailed off, finished her sentence off in her head: ‘an emotionally constipated asshole.’

“Ahem.”

The three turned to the doorway. Standing there was an ANBU guard leading a heavily clothed Sasuke into the room. As he approached the middle, he put down his hood and lowered his scarf. “You requested my presence…” he glanced to the ANBU, ‘…Hokage-sama.”

“Maahh, no need for formalities, Sasuke-kun.” He set down his book, and placed a hand atop a pile of thick files. “I have…a proposition for you.”

Sasuke crossed his arms. What could he possible want? He glanced over to Naruto and Sakura to see if he could glean any indication of what this ‘proposition’ could be about, but their expressions were closed. 

He turned back to Kakashi. There was no indication of ‘this is a joke that Naruto put me up to’ dancing around in his steely eyes. Whatever it was, it seemed important. To them, at least. To Sasuke, not so much. He had shit to do—like plan a mini-vacation to Tea Country.

“Are you going to elaborate on this proposition, or just stare at me?” 

Kakashi cleared his throat, grabbing one of the thick files he had in front of him. Handing Sasuke one of them he began to speak: “Your shop and apartment is located in the Nomadic borough, correct?” Sasuke nodded and glared at Naruto, who seemingly couldn’t keep his mouth shut about where he lived. “You’ve built up a repertoire there as a local business and civilian? Do people know anything about your past…ventures?” 

Sasuke paused. He wasn’t sure where this line of questioning was going and try as he might could not begin to take a guess. “I have been located there for five years and am known there as a reliable, small, civilian business. The nomadic nature of the people there conveniently made it so majority of them are mostly unaware of the Uchiha name and its…connotations…as most families lived elsewhere until the war. The only ones who really know about my past are my apprentice, his family, and my late teacher, Takumi-san. People there tend to stay out of ninja affairs. ”

Naruto and Sakura glanced at each other. Sasuke didn’t miss the meaningful mental exchange they gave each other, though he wished he knew what this was all about. Kakashi nodded, handing the folder for Sasuke.

He opened the folder to see several case files containing arrest records, head-shots, and other pertinent information of several youths from his neighborhood. He vaguely recognized a few of them, having probably passed by them countless times in markets, at Yuki’s school, with…

His eyes widened as he flipped through to a section profiling his very own apprentice. The photo used to ID Yuki was old, probably from before he started working for him. In fact, most of the information on this record was out-dated. There wasn’t even anything about him being a woodworking apprentice. Sasuke knew his helper had been troubled as a young teen, and there was some overlap with his misfit lifestyle and when he first started out at the shop, but as far as Sasuke knew, he was regularly attending school and seemed to be generally staying out of serious trouble. “What’s the meaning of all this?”

Naruto frowned at Sasuke’s confused expression. He and Sakura hadn’t glanced at the file, only being receiving a short brief on its contents. He took a couple steps only to be stopped by Sakura; they’ll know soon enough. He craned his neck to catch a glance at the record packet that Sasuke was now examining closely. 

“The end of the war marked a transition to a new era of peace. However, with the decrease in political black ops missions…there has been an increase in street and gang related crime, especially within the confines of Konoha and specifically in your neighborhood. The youngsters in that file your holding have been profiled as possible and known members of a young gang that has been selling a highly addictive drug, the likes of which Konoha has not seen until now. We think the initial stash was brought in from an outside source and now there is a location here for local production. Usually we’d leave this for your local enforcement to deal with since this is a civilian matter, but as of two weeks ago, we’ve had one fatal overdose, three cases of near-fatal overdoses, seven in rehabilitation, and over a two dozen with traces of these drugs found in their system after I issued a mandatory drug-test for all ranking shinobi. And al this in the past six months. This is unacceptable to me, and until now I had no way of having a proper in to find the source without angering a lot of civilians.”

Okay, so Sasuke knew where this was going now. 

“As you know, there is a certain lack of trust with ninja in your neighborhood, specifically, so it’s been hard for us to get in there to do some investigative work. The neighborhood enforcement hasn’t been helpful either. So my proposition is this: I want you to help us out. This isn’t a mission as you’re no longer a ninja, but I will compensate you grandly. This won’t get in the way of your work. All I want is a base camp. Sakura and Naruto will be the ones carrying this out. I figured you’d be more comfortable with familiar faces. They’ll be living in your space and you can pretend they are family or something. I’ll give you more details, but I just need to know if you’re on board.”

Sasuke sighed. He thought back to when Yuki had first started with him, reluctant to invest his energy and constantly distracted by his troublemaking friends, though he still made progress. In an effort to set his priorities straight, they had made their first trip as a master and apprentice to meet with a client. He’d been fidgety the whole way there, though Sasuke just assumed it had been nerves. It was in a local hostel that he saw Yuki bent over and sitting on the bed with an elastic tightened around his arm and his hand clenched in a tight fist, the other holding a syringe. The two had looked at each other, Yuki’s eyes widening in panic at being caught, and Sasuke’s mouth open in shock. Sasuke postponed the client meeting and all but dragged Yuki back to Konoha. 

Though he knew Yuki had managed to stay away from the highly addictive substance since then, he was happy to see some effort being made to finally do something about those perpetuating the drug amongst Konoha citizens.

“While I’d be happy to help—for the sake of a personal matter—I think there’s some sort of mistake in this file.”

His old teacher was taken aback, but delighted all the same (it would make things so much easier.) He had had his people double check the data multiple times. “What do you mean?” Naruto finally broke through his willpower to stay professional and stepped up to where Sasuke was standing, looking over his shoulder at the file. He had a right to know, too!

He frowned. “What the hell is Yuki doing in here?” Sakura and Kakashi exchanged looks. This was a development. 

“If you must know—“ to which Kakashi replied that as Hokage he must, “—one of these kids you’ve profiled is apprenticing for me, this younger one to be specific. While he wasn’t without fault when he first started at my shop, he’s been clean and out of trouble for the past three years. In fact, the records you have for him are outdated and this photo is from before I knew him. I don’t think he’s anyone you’d be interested in,” he explained. He’d have a word with Yuki in private later to make absolutely sure nothing was going on

Kakashi knitted his eyebrows together thoughtfully, looking through his own copy of the file. It was true that information about him was from a few years back and there were no recent photos of him. “But you’re saying he may have been involved with this in the past?”

Sasuke sighed impatiently. “Well, yeah, but it’s all in the pas—“

The Rokudaime locked his eyes on Sasuke’s intensely. “You need to tell me everything. We need to get this sorted out so we’re not wrongfully and wastefully tailing someone. ”

His anger and protective tendencies flared. “Kakashi—“

“Sasuke, this is important. I wouldn’t care about your civilian misfits if it didn’t involve my shinobi. What was the extent of his involvement as far as you know?”

He examined Kakashi’s darkened scowl for a moment. He was probably more irritated at having to get involved in civilian affairs than anything. The sooner this was over the better, for all parties. When did his life get so complicated? He stole a glance at Naruto, who looked up earnestly, waiting for an answer to Kakashi’s inquiry. He knew exactly when it got more complicated, actually.

“I don’t know when he became friends with these kids, but I know he still hung around them when I sought him out for my apprenticeship. I didn’t realize how deep he was in what I guess was the beginnings of this—“ he waved around the folder, “—gang you’re profiling. He seemed fine and alert on the days he came to help me out and learn at my shop. It wasn’t until I took him on a trip to Suna that I realized he had a drug problem. I caught him with them at our hostel and promptly confiscated his things and took him straight back here.. He was placed in a rehabilitation facility by his mom and cut ties with his enablers…This was when he was 15. He’s 18 now and there’s nothing in his person that would make me believe that he is otherwise a well-adjusted, hard-working young adult.”

Kakashi hummed in response, tapping his masked chin in deliberation. “I guess I’ll have to take your word for it.”

“Whatever. Anyway, I have only one extra room, if you two don’t mind sharing. Just don’t get in my way.”

Naruto perked an eyebrow. “Hey, hey, hey, maybe Sakura can pretend she’s your girlfriend.” He elbowed Sakura. “You’d like that, huh.” She laughed nervously, clearly uncomfortable.

Kakashi narrowed his eyes. Naruto glared at him in response. Sasuke scoffed.

“I have no interest in Sakura. And it would be pretty shocking to the people in the neighborhood who know me. I only take home men.”

He said it mostly as a passing remark, but the silence that followed made it clear that he had very much just dropped a bombshell. Although he supposed his former teammates knew nothing of his preferences as much of his formative years were spent away from their company. Kakashi looked like he was smirking under his mask, his eyes filled with a thinly veiled mirth as he glanced back and forth between Sakura and Naruto. Sakura blinked, hiding a smile and a blush with little success. Naruto, however, was slowly beginning to resemble a tomato, similar to Sasuke’s own garden staples. He coughed a couple times, trying to get a hold of himself. 

“…gay…” Naruto comically whispered to himself, eyes widening in self-realization. He thought back to the time when he and Sasuke had battled Kaguya together and he had used his ‘special male harem jutsu’ which, it really wasn’t a joke that he’d practiced more than his Rasengan…and admittedly, he found more gratification from the male form but he’d been way too busy chasing Sasuke and then being the PR master of Konoha to even begin to think about the implications. How the hell did Sasuke find the time!?

Sasuke raised an eyebrow at his stuttering friend. Any and all serious air in the room had dissipated with this revelation. It only confirmed to Sasuke that the most basic things piqued people’s interest the most. It must be why the Konoha Post was such a bestseller, not that he’d ever admit out loud that he was a sucker for it…which reminded him: if Naruto and Sakura were to be living in his quarters for however long, he’d need to do some house cleaning…

“Yes, that is a term used to describe my preferences,” he quipped.

Naruto’s face reddened further. Ok, so this changed a lot of things. He’d only idly entertained the thought of Sasuke as someone with the potential as more than a friend but would automatically write it off as him being over-reactive to mere circumstances (like taking his shirt off, the white lie about the need for lumber, the tiny blush at the retelling of their unfortunate first kiss, generally being obsessed with Sasuke’s approval, etc.) It was all too much! 

“Fuck…” he muttered under his breath. 

“You know, this doesn’t have to be as complicated as you’re probably planning on making it. I can stand to not bring any dates home if it’ll make you that uncomfortable.”

Sakura blushed at that. Imagining Sasuke ravishing and being ravished by another fine male made her breath catch, and being in the same tiny apartment while these things were going on? Ino would be so jealous. Naruto, on the other hand, was irritated that Sasuke would imply that he had an issue with his sexuality. And he, too, was (angrily) imagining Sasuke ravishing a nameless blond-haired, blue-eyed male (in this case, NOT Naruto), but that was neither here nor there. “Bastard, that wouldn’t make me uncomfortable and you know that! I have no issue with your preferences. Bring home as many fucking guys as you want I don’t care! I don’t care at all! You’re lucky you have TIME for dates!” He crossed his arms and stormed out of the room, his ears red with what he would say was anger but really, he was thinking about Sasuke naked.

“Well.” Kakashi crossed his arms. He turned to Sasuke. “So you’ll have Sakura and Naruto make your apartment their base for this small investigation?” 

Sasuke shrugged and nodded. “If it doesn’t get in the way of my work, and you pay me, I don’t see what could go wrong.” Actually he could see a lot of things going wrong. “Send the remainder of the information with Sakura and Naruto. I take it they’ll be using a high-level henge while maneuvering the neighborhood? Naruto is fairly recognizable, even that far off.”

Kakashi inclined his head. He hadn’t thought of that. “Yes, I think that’ll be for the best. Expect them later this evening. You’re dismissed.” He waved the Uchiha off, but not before making him sign a civilian release form and a non-disclosure contract binding him to not speak about the mission for the duration set by Kakashi, which was as of yet TBD. Sasuke looked at the time. It was late in the afternoon. Yuki was probably out of school by then. He made his way out of the office and towards his home. He had a lot of preparation to do before Naruto and Sakura arrived. He smirked, remembering Naruto’s little outburst in the office. He’d always been curious about Naruto’s leanings. He’d assumed he’d have found out eventually now that they were back on friendly terms, but maybe this surprise mission involvement would expedite any sexual revelations for Naruto. 

As much as he found all of this irritating and slightly impeding on his personal work schedule, at least it broke up the monotony of his daily routine. Though he loved having the routine set, he had kinda missed the adventure of his youth. Unfortunately now his vacation would have to wait…as if he’d leave Sakura and Naruto to their own devices in his apartment for longer than necessary. 

He opened the door to his studio, still not noticing the repaired wall. At that point, the storefront renovation was relegated to the bottom of his list. He found Yuki carving a small object in his hands, the room dimmed except for a small candle. His apprentice looked up, smiling in greeting. “Hey sensei—I know I’m not scheduled to be in today, but I have a small personal project I’m working on and needed to use your tools.” He laughed nervously. 

Sasuke didn’t respond and just walked over to Yuki, pulling up a stool to examine his work. He had a lot of questions but didn’t want to overwhelm him with accusations. “What are you making?”

Yuki blushed. “Uhh, this girl I like at school, well one of my good friends, I guess, is super into birds and nature and stuff…so I’m making her this wooden bird whistle for her birthday. I’m gonna stain it to bring out the details of the grain and then lacquer small designs onto it.” He held it up, turning it over in the light to show the delicate carving marks. It was still in the early stages of its creation, but Sasuke could envision the final product. He nodded in approval. There was no way Yuki was still involved with the drug ring.

“Listen, Yuki, I need to ask you something—“ he set the large file on the table, leafing through and taking out Yuki’s profile. “I was called in to the Hokage’s office to help them with an internal mission. They think there’s some kind of drug production coming from this neighborhood that’s started to affect shinobi ranks. They’ve profiled several members believed to be affiliated and you’re one of them.” He put his hand up when Yuki opened his mouth in protest. “I looked at it and it’s all outdated stuff and I disclosed some information about your past but gave them my word that you’re no longer involved with anything of the sort. But I need to know, are you involved in any of this?”

Yuki blinked, hurt in his eyes and clutching the carved bird. “Sensei, no! I’m done with that. I don’t even…I have more important things to do with my time, now.”

Sasuke sighed, ruffling Yuki’s hair with as much affection as he could muster and got up off his stool, making his way towards the staircase leading up to his apartment. “I trust you; I just wanted to be sure I didn’t wrongly vouch for you.” He turned to glance at the teen before making his way up the stairs. “Oh by the way, Naruto and another old teammate of mine will be staying in the spare bedroom of my apartment until further notice. They’ll be carrying out the mission to find the people creating and selling these drugs. I’m just going to be housing them. As far as you know, they’re my family members, if anyone asks. Business will be run as usual.”

Yuki listened in silence. He sighed. He’d heard about the recent chuunin who had overdosed and knew someone probably ratted on him being involved when he was, what, 14? Too bad for them he was completely innocent and had been coerced as a young teen to be a delivery boy, being given drugs as compensation and the ensuing addiction being used as a way to keep him on their leash. He was so thankful he met Sasuke when he did. He rubbed his eyes, trying to will away the headache that was forming and continued to carve. 

Up in the apartment, Sasuke set the file down on the table to peruse at a later time. First things first, though; he needed to clean. He scanned the room, eyes settling on the pile of Konoha Post back issues. Heaving them all up in one go, he threw them all in the back of his closet, placing a pile of extra sheets on top to hide them. There. Out of sight, out of mind. He wasn’t going to worry about cleaning his room. He walked into the spare bedroom, making sure everything was clean and laying out two rolled up futons on the side, two neat piles of sheets, and two pillows. He stepped back into the doorway, admiring his work. The room was completely empty save for the sleeping arrangements and a small bookcase filled with…

“Gotta get rid of those journals…” he mumbled to himself. He walked over, grabbing all the journals and placing them with the tabloid pile in his closet. He checked the spare room again, void of any decoration or personality. Perfect.

He walked into the living room, seeing his little cabinet full of Kyuubi figurines.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes. Too risky to not hide, he decided. He grabbed a small cloth knapsack and carefully placed the figurines inside, slowly shoving them up on the highest shelf inside his closet and pushing them to the back. 

Sasuke surveyed the room. Everything else seemed fine and safe. 

He sighed. He needed tea. Today was an exceptionally taxing day. 

Just as his tea finished brewing, there was a knock at the door. Walking over with the steaming mug in his hand, he opened the door to reveal Naruto and Sakura, folding down the scarves that had been covering their faces. “Saw Yuki-chan downstairs!” Naruto bounced past Sasuke and into the room. “He was leaving as we came in and we had a few words. I sent a messenger hawk over to Kakashi to make sure he took him off the file.”

Sakura smiled lightly at Sasuke as he beckoned her into the room. “He’s such a sweet boy.”

“He’s a smartass.”

“Yeah, he’s awesome. Super witty and takes NONE of Sasuke’s shit. And he’s mega-talented, you saw that cool bird thing right Sakura-chan?”

“Sasuke-kun, I never would’ve expected you to take someone under your wing!”

“Hn..” Was it really so hard for people to realize that perhaps he had grown up a little? Sure, maybe he didn’t always know the best way to confront people, or to deal with his problems, but he was 23 and running a successful business and saved a fledgling troubled youth from ruining his life. Give him some credit! 

“Yeah, don’t let that small detail trick you. He’s still the same old bastard. Yuki will for sure surpass him too.”

Sasuke threw a pillow he had been sitting on at Naruto, who in turn lunged for his best friend, slapping wildly in front of him, not really aiming but knowing he would hit his target eventually. Sakura got in between them, forcefully pushing them apart. It wasn’t long until Naruto was also reduced to a fit of giggles. Sasuke’s frown slowly dissolved into an amused smile. 

“You know, as much as I hate the details of this mission, it’s nice to hang out as a team again. Even if we kinda coerced Sasuke into it,” sighed Sakura, collapsing on the couch and into Naruto’s lap, who immediately wound his fingers into her hair. She looked over to Sasuke and didn’t miss the way his expression darkened at her and Naruto’s closeness. She held his gaze with a smug smile. 

He knew he shouldn’t get jealous, after all, he isolated himself for so long by choice and knew Sakura was totally having relations with Kakashi. He shuddered to think about it. It still irked him some, though, seeing Naruto and Sakura so comfortable in sharing their personal space. He almost wondered if he would be the same had he stayed in Konoha when he was still a genin…or even after the war. But that was beside the point. All that mattered was that Sasuke would rather be the one in Naruto’s lap having his hair played with by the bumbling tan fingers. He sighed, involuntarily scratching at his unruly hair. Sakura was fighting sleep and losing the battle. Naruto rubbing his eyes. Sasuke got up. “I’ve gotta finish some work. There are futons in the spare bedroom down the hall. We can go over your mission details and how you plan on executing them tomorrow...Goodnight.”

Grumbling about being woken up, Naruto and Sakura bid him a goodnight and walked away. He vaguely heard a small argument as they set up their futons and got ready for bed, and then sweet, sweet silence. He went downstairs to check the mail, and to his delight, his client had sent in the specifications for his order. Opening it up he found a handwritten note and two folded pages of crude drawings. It seemed the client wanted a set of three mahogany nesting tables, in-laid with ebony wood and white marble into what looked like decorative tigers on each tabletop. He sighed loudly, making a noise of frustration in the empty space. It’d been awhile since he’d gotten such a complex commission. He was known for his minimalist, yet stylish, approach so most of his work consisted of such. Most of his really decorative pieces were small and/or for personal use.

He jotted down a few reminder notes for tomorrow to send the client an invoice and then a few preliminary sketches. He wouldn’t start until he got half his money, but it wouldn’t hurt to get some ideas out. By the time he finished, a few hours had passed and he was about ready to collapse.

Sasuke made his way through silent and dark apartment, floorboards creaking at each step. As he climbed into bed he felt a presence; a heaviness on his mattress that shouldn’t be there. Flipping on the light, he saw the figure stir and turn over, glaring. “Naruto!” he whispered harshly. “What the fuck! Go back to your room!”

Naruto shielded his eyes from the light “Nhhhhggg, it’s cold in there.” Hardly a good excuse, Sasuke thought. Nevertheless, Naruto grabbed more blankets and huddled into them as if to prove his point. 

He sighed in defeat, unable to come up with a retort and too tired to forcefully remove the blond from his bed. He settled in, yanking the blankets from Naruto. He reached for the lamp to turn it off.

“Don’t make this a habit, dobe.”


	10. search and research and re-research

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> team 7 reads up on the youth and are completely confused like what do teens do besides participate in covert operations and kill ppl???? hobbies?????
> 
> ? ? ? ? ? ???

Sasuke groaned. He shifted slightly, detangling his legs from a pile of sheets at the foot of his bed. Slowly his eyes opened, blinking away the final remnants of sleep and welcoming the morning sun. 10am. He had slept in.

He turned over onto his side, yawning and lazily stretching out all his muscle kinks, probably like a cat except he wasn’t a cat. Although if he were to be an animal, Sasuke thought to himself, he’d probably want to be some kind of feline: precise, independent, and lethal (depending.) But, did it matter what animal he wanted to be? Did he have a choice? What if his inner animal was something the opposite of a cat. A hawk maybe? He could go with that –hawks were birds of prey after all, and he was formally in a self-established team named after the bird. And he could summon hawks so he definitely had an established affinity with them. But like…what if he was a mouse? What if one day he died and he became a little rodent. Of course, he wou—

“SASUKE!” He felt his covers unceremoniously ripped from his body, immediately shrinking from the shock of the cold air. He looked at the perpetrators of his chilled skin and found Naruto rolling his eyes and Sakura gripping the sheets in her white knuckled fists. He glanced at the clock. 10:30am. 

Oh, so he’d been thinking about his fucking spirit animal for 30 minutes, great.

“We’ve been calling your name for the past, I don’t know, 10 minutes? Breakfast is ready! And probably cold no thanks to you,” Naruto pouted. 

Sasuke glared, not enthused at all to justify why he hadn’t responded to their calls (not that he heard them. He was way too invested working the ins and outs of whether he was probably a cat or a mouse. Or a bird.

“Shut up, I’m coming.” He snatched the comforter from Sakura’s hands and threw it haphazardly on the bed. As he neared the kitchen, he did have to admit that whatever his old teammates came up with for breakfast smelled amazing. 

“You can’t say you’re coming and then walk out in front of us! What’s the point in that?” Naruto walked out after Sasuke, huffing in frustration.

“It’s my house, idiot. You can leave any time.” Well…

“Actually, we can’t, and you know that.” Sakura arched an eyebrow in the direction of the young Uchiha, who was currently reaching into a cabinet to grab tableware. “We don’t know how long this mission will be, I mean, hopefully not too long. We can hash out the details over breakfast.”

“And to think I had been planning a little vacation in Tea Country just yesterday morning.” Sasuke sighed wistfully. He set the plates and mugs onto the table, and sat himself down, placing small helpings of the breakfast layout onto his plate. Sakura and Naruto followed suit. “You guys better not get in the way of my work,” he said. 

Naruto swatted away the comment as if it were some bug flying around the room. “Please! You won’t even notice us!” 

Sakura smiled at them both, heaving a large folder of information onto the table. “Let’s get to working on some plans!”

-

Several hours later saw the two shinobi (and former) sprawled over the furniture in the living room, sheets of paper taped onto a bare wall detailing information and people of interest. Sakura chewed at the end of her pencil, scrawling down a note as she read through a case file. “So, this is a lot.”

Naruto snored in response, to which Sasuke tsked in disbelief. “I can’t wrap my head around the fact he’s being groomed to be the next Hokage.”

“Be that as it may, it’s definitely going to happen,” responded Sakura. 

“He fell asleep like 10 minutes after we moved into the living room. He hasn’t changed a bit. Tch, idiot.”

Sakura glanced up, about to admonish Sasuke’s assumptions on Naruto’s work ethic…which yes, he was lazy but worked so hard at the same time. All the time! Instead, she fought down a smile. Sasuke lazily stared at Naruto’s sleeping form, his chin in his hand, and sighed wistfully. 

“Yeah,” she started. “But you’ve changed. A lot.”

He glared up at Sakura, not realizing that she had caught him staring at Naruto. “You don’t know that. I could be planning your deaths right now. And anyway, it doesn’t even matter.”

She laughed. “Right, yeah ok.”

They sat in silence for a few minutes, the only sound coming from sheafs of paper being shuffled around. “But you really have…” Sakura said after a while. “You’re still bristly and irritable, but you’ve finally got a sense of humor.”

Sasuke stopped writing. “I still don’t see the fucking point in this conversation,” he said, though with no real venom in his words. 

She shrugged. “I’m just saying, it’s interesting to see how much you boys have grown since we were all genin.”

“Yeah.." he said, absentmindedly flipping through more files. 

Hours passed before Naruto blearily blinked away his foggy mind to the sounds of Sasuke's chair scraping backwards as he got up to go downstairs to his studio. He had enough of helping on this mission and needed to do _actual_ work.

Naruto’s face dropped at the sight. “Wha—you mean you’re not helping us?!” 

“Dolt, he’s been up here going through papers for hours while you snoozed. Let him be!” defended Sakura, slapping Naruto upside his head.

Sasuke rolled his eyes at the scene and gathered some notebooks and a glass of water and left. 

Naruto and Sakura watched the door swing shut. “Let’s get to work.” “Let’s go through his shit.” They both looked at each other.

Sakura was the first to speak. “Naruto, there is NO WAY we are disrespecting his space like that. Get that idea out of your mind and back on the task at hand. Which happens to be a very serious mission! It’s affecting our shinobi for fuck’s sake!”

Naruto sighed in resignation. “But—“

“NO buts. We’re working. Now let’s come up with a game plan for the next however long. These young people are different over here, so we need to figure out a way in without being obvious.”

“Whaddaya mean, we’re only like in our early 20s!”

“That doesn’t matter. This is a completely different demographic that we’re dealing with. I mean, I can’t even remember the last movie I saw! How are we supposed to ‘blend in’ with these people when we don’t even know what they do in their spare time?! It sure as hell isn’t spent training.”

Naruto had to admit, she had a point. On paper this seemed a lot easier, similar to doing recon in other countries dressed as civilians…it wasn’t hard to just blend in with the crowd at the bare minimum. But this was closer to home (literally was home), yet was a completely different world. The youth had better technology, not to mention were way more literate with the modern devices, entertainment, all these weird social quirks and eccentricities that were simply not present or not as prevalent in the shinobi lifestyle, which in comparison was steeped in tradition and rigidity and routine. Failing to keep up appearances and being outed as spies essentially within their own walls (and within neighborhoods that were generally distrustful of shinobi) could prove to be a PR disaster at best (or an inkling of a social upheaval at worst)…and Naruto would be the one having to clean it up. 

“Shit…” he muttered to himself.

“Yeah, shit,” Sakura repeated after him. 

They both sighed and got back to studying the material. 

Meanwhile, Sasuke sat downstairs, feeling a bit strange in his own studio. Something was off, but he couldn’t put his finger on it. He shrugged his shoulders, going back to the email sent to him concerning the commission specs. 

He hated using technology. After all this time it still felt foreign, but his business wouldn’t be what it is today if not for easy access to customers. Yuki had made it really clear that people would not be amused with messenger hawks and he’d be better off familiarizing with newer technology, even if it was just the basics. 

As if on cue, the bell above the door gave a little ring as it opened, revealing the young man. He heaved his school bag onto the nearest table and pulled a chair up to where Sasuke was sitting. “Anything exciting happen since last night?”

Sasuke hummed before responding. “I got some specs for the latest commission and am trying to carve out some time to get the table to Suna.” He didn’t find it necessary to include anything about Naruto choosing to completely disregard the guest room and opting to sleep in his bed instead (and also the fact that he was less annoyed by it than he should’ve been.) His student could get pretty annoying whenever he felt the need to butt into his personal life; as if Sasuke ever needed a companion. 

“How are your friends?”

“They’re…struggling,” Sasuke relented after a moment of hesitation. “You should probably go upstairs and help them out.” Effectively ending the conversation, he went back to his work, inwardly shrieking (it was important to always maintain a calm demeanor) when he realized he accidentally pressed ‘send’ on an incomplete email. He only hoped the recipient would understand it to be a mistake when they opened it, only to find the body containing a single word: “Hell”

He really fucking hated technology.

Yuki shrugged to himself and grabbed his bag, making his way up the stairs. From outside the door he could hear the muffled sounds of Naruto and Sakura arguing. Knocking quietly, he entered, announcing himself to the two ninja.

“Yuki-kun! What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be helping Sasuke?” Sakura looked over at the young man, perplexed at his arrival. 

“Nah, he’s downstairs checking emails…or trying to at least—he said you two probably needed my help for something?”

Sakura and Naruto looked at each other as if a genie had just appeared before them and told them they won the lottery. 

Sakura turned back to Yuki “Actually, we definitely could use your help.”

He looked between them. “Uh, so what do you need?”

“We need to fit in with your type,” responded Naruto, gazing intensely at him. The teen was a little taken aback considering that he really didn’t know what they meant by his type.

“Like…what do you mean by my type?”

Naruto groaned as he swept back his hair in frustration. “We have no fucking clue what young civilians do! Like, what do you guys do with all that free time you have? How do you form lasting bonds?! What’s there to live for besides devoting your life to maintaining the safety and peace within the village?!”

Yuki and Sakura both peered at Naruto, wondering and worrying after his sanity. It was no surprise to most Konoha ninja how dedicated Naruto was to the village but hearing it out loud was always a little jarring, all things considered, especially during peace time. The boy put his bag down and sat across from the two shinobi. “First of all, Naruto, can you not use the word bonds? It makes me uncomfortable. Second of all, you both are in for many surprises if you’re that hard pressed to find anything other than training or missions to fill your time with. Not including running errands or eating out.”

“Well then give us an example,” said Sakura, holding out a notepad, ready to take down whatever Yuki was saying to them. 

He looked up at the ceiling, tapping his chin in deep thought. “Well, right now this apprenticeship takes up a lot of my time. But whenever I have a day off my friends and I like to walk around and explore abandoned buildings and take photos or watch movies. Kids at my school throw parties a lot too, which I go to occasionally. You know, we drink and like smoke a little. It kind of depends on who your friends are as well. I guess, just imagine what you would do without your missions or whatever, except that’s your life all the time but maybe with a normal job and add a little technology to it.”

Naruto squinted his eyes, processing Yuki’s words. All he did was eat at Ichiraku's and take care of his plants aside from seeing his friends every now and then (but that was only when schedules matched up, which was rare.) “What even is the point of doing anything? Don’t you do anything that works towards a higher cause?”

Yuki shot Naruto a look of slight irritation. "That's the beauty of it, isn't it? You can choose whatever your higher cause is, instead of being indoctrinated at birth what's expected of you. Like, who said sensei had to be a carpenter? No one! And he’s not doing it for anyone but himself! Not for the village, not for me, no one. What’s so significant about being a ninja? All you guys seem to do is create conflict and wars all for the sake of money or power. To what end are you all working towards? You get hired to kill someone for someone else and have no regard for your actions other than it’s your job!” 

The blond’s mouth set in a hard line. “That…that’s not—you don’t know anything about what it takes to be a ninja! You’d be dead if it weren’t for us!”

Yuki rolled his eyes, understanding that Naruto was of a different breed (and a little ignorant) and he probably wouldn’t be as receptive to his critique of the ninja system as Sasuke. “Or a lot more people would still be alive. Anyway, I’m not getting into this argument with you,” he said, cutting Naruto off. “Either way, there’s not much complexity in being a civilian in this neighborhood. As long as you don’t wax poetic about Konoha and its legion of shinobi, you should be fine. There are plenty of kids my age who aren’t all that into modern advances and still go by traditional ways of living. You could easily pass off as one of those.”

Sakura considered Yuki’s words. “But what were the kids you used to hang with like? We need to be friends with them so that, you know…” she bashed her fist into her other hand. 

He was quiet for a couple beats, haphazardly shifting sheets of paper around to fill the silence. “Well, I suppose if your alter-egos were troublemakers, you wouldn’t have a problem attracting yourselves to their group. Maybe make up a story about having connections with traffickers in like Lightning Country or something. And definitely you would have to HATE Konoha shinobi,” he nodded to himself, happy with the advice he was giving to Sakura and Naruto.

Naruto grumbled. “I feel like I’ll be betraying my village…after I worked so hard to save it..”

Sakura elbowed him in the ribs. “Get it together, it’s all a ruse anyway. Just keep your mouth shut. I don’t trust you to not go off anytime anyone so much as makes a peep against the village.”

“Yeah, you should probably go back and ask for a replacement member. You’re honestly too attached to Konoha; I’m not sure who let you do something like this."

Clenching his fist, Naruto looked off into the distance with determination. “Never. I never go back on my word. I’ll finish this mission even if it hurts my very essence.”

Yuki and Sakura looked on at Naruto, practically witnessing waves of determination emanate from his being. “Heh,” Sakura chuckled nervously. “Maybe Kakashi made a mistake..maybe he meant Ino to come on this mission with me. She’s blond, too. Probably got mixed up, hah, and a recon expert…”

“Eeeeehhhh??” 

Before Naruto could properly respond, a light tapping and a creak from the door was heard. Sasuke had returned from his studio, wiping away sawdust that had stuck to the sweat on his skin. “Anything good from Yuki’s consultation?”

“We determined Naruto is too in love with Konoha to even think about infiltrating a ninja-hating gang of drug traffickers,” Sakura shrugged. 

Sasuke snorted. “Typical. I bet he thinks he can sway these idiots with some stupid Will of Fire speech. I’m almost torn between wanting to see him fail miserably and wanting to see these kids eat shit.”

“Bastard, I RESENT that! You have no idea how many people I’ve changed –OVERNIGHT—with my speaking abilities!” The blond began listing off on his hands. “I’m relatable, friendly, charismatic, and my message is UNIVERSAL! I’m not the PR delegate for Konoha for NUTHIN’ –if it were all to fall on Sensei’s shoulders, we’d all send Orochimaru and Oto with a run for his money on being the world’s perviest village.”

“Oh, no one is doubting your ability to talk,” Sasuke said. “You’re just not good at pretending to be anything other than yourself.”

Naruto glared, earning a small consolatory pat from Sakura. “There, there. You’re perfect the way you are.”

Sasuke glanced between the two, briefly noticing Yuki taking the day’s edition of the Konoha Post out of his bag, a hi-res close-up of Naruto’s face gracing the entire front cover. Yuki peered over the top of the magazine at Sasuke, perking his eyebrow up. Sasuke’s eye twitched involuntarily. He’d have to deal with that later. 

He turned back to his old teammates. “When do you guys think you’ll start this?”

Sakura hummed, grabbing a notepad buried within the stack of papers and research on the coffee table. “I would say probably we would want to start establishing ourselves within the next couple days; familiarize ourselves with the locals and begin to build some surface-level relationships, and maybe we can start to poke around various connections I’ve gleaned from these reports. Trust me, Sasuke. I want this to be over with just as much as you.”

“I could probably help with making you guys seem legit. Show you around, introduce you to people…” said Yuki, flipping a page in his magazine loudly. Sasuke mm’d in agreement, aching to snatch the magazine out of his student’s hands and into the trash. (To be exact: the pile of Konoha Post trash currently residing in a dark corner of his closet.)

Naruto’s head snapped up at the sharp sound of the paper and after seeing Yuki’s choice of reading material, immedietly his noce wrinkled in disgust. 

“Ughhhh are you fucking kidding me. Who did I get pregnant this time?!” He looked closer at the headline, reading the bolded title overlaid on his face. “Wait a minute...SAAAAIIIIIIIIIII!”

Several miles across town, near the center of the village, Sai stood against the front counter of the Yamanaka flower shop as Ino completed closing for the night. He glanced thoughtfully at the rack of magazines displayed near the register, the Konoha Post prominently displayed front and center. “I wonder if Naruto-kun’s seen the latest KP today.”

Ino smirked, stifling a chuckle at her blond friend’s expense. “You better hope not. He still gets mad when you say those things to his face. He’d blow a fuse if he saw that you’d actually profited off of it.”

Sai nervously scratched the side of his face. “Well, I may or may not have signed a special issue deal with them…hopefully we don't cross paths before that goes to print.” 

Back at Sasuke’s apartment, Naruto stomped across the living room, using all of his will power to not send off fatal waves of killing intent across the entire village limits of Konoha. Sakura and Sasuke bent over Yuki, reading over his shoulder at the cover article dedicated to Naruto: 

**‘Uzumaki Naruto: Big Hero, Tiny Penis? A Konoha Post Special!’**

Naruto was going to eviscerate Sai after this goddammned mission. "Sakura," he said, cracking his knuckles, his face clouded with a murderous look. 'We are going to find these bastards, apprehend them and do whatever the fuck else Kakashi-sensei asked us, I really wasn't paying attention. And then we are going to find Sai. And then we are going to kill him."

"Now, now, let's have ourselves a nice calming cup of tea.."

"Dobe."

\--

Sai and Ino walked out of the flower shop, Ino locking the door behind her. Sai looked up into the night sky, facing east towards the borough where Sasuke's apartment was comfortably nestled. "Is it just me or is there a slight disturbance in the air?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> inosai is yes in this AU
> 
> also this feels so half baked sorrryryyyyyryyryryrr


	11. the act of enduring

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> naruto paces a lil and stuff and nothing really exciting happens except for some more talking bc that is literally the only thing im decent at

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> in case anyone thought i forgot about this the truth is i kind of did 
> 
> but i remembered so that's somthng???

Later that evening, Naruto had calmed down and sat pouting while Sakura, Yuki, and Sasuke drew up believable personas: Sakura and Naruto were going to pretend to be weary travelers who had met Sasuke in Lightning during his many travels some months ago. It was simple enough to leave wiggle room for on-the-spot ad-libbing (though they’d have to keep careful tabs on any elaborations, something Sakura would be responsible for) but vague enough to sneakily dodge inquiries without creating a complicated and uncontrollable web of lies. 

“It’s almost too easy,” muttered Sakura. 

Narrowing his eyes, Sasuke glanced warily at her. “Don’t make it more complicated than it has to be. These are just civilian gang members, not elite shinobi. People tend to be wery of strangers, but it’s not hard to gain trust. I’m sure the two of you can handle it in record time.”

She smiled gratefully at him, Naruto rolling his eyes from the couch as he sighed. “Then why don’t you do it, if it’s so simple, huh?”

“This isn’t my mission.” He paused in thought, scrunching up his eyebrows. “Also I’m not a shinobi. What a dumb question.”

Sakura frowned. “Yeah, Naruto. We’ve already established this. Weren’t you the one to find him anyway?” she laughed, turning to Sasuke. “I still can’t believe you were right in front of our faces this whole time.”

“…five years,” grumbled Naruto.

Sasuke shrugged, flipping through a notebook and furiously scribbling away inside. “Not my issue,” he answered.

The blond dramatically shut a folder and turned to the Uchiha. “Oh it so IS your issue! And I’m going to so get you back for it! Lucky this mission is taking up most of my time, but mark my words..”

Sasuke narrowed his eyes. “I’ll be in Suna,” he said. “I have a client waiting for his table. Looks like you’ll just miss me.”

“What and that’s going to take weeks?” 

“It could. I’ll be walking the whole way. Plus, there are some sights to see when you’re not rushing through all the shortcuts.”

Naruto made a face. “You mean to say you’ll be gone for weeks while Sakura and I toil away here catching bad guys? What about Team 7?! The grand reunion?!”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” chided Sakura. “Sasuke’s been out of form for five years. Plus, he did something to his chakra. It’s essentially dormant. I’m not sure he’d be much help if push came to shove…” she finished off, giving Sasuke a meek smile.

“Well,” Sasuke replied. “She’s not lying.” He wasn’t even exactly how he managed to suppress his chakra coils to near civilian levels. It was during one trip through Bear Country when he encountered a village witch (at least, that’s what the local villagers referred to her as) during a bad storm and the rest was history.

“I’ll need to examine your chakra pathways when I get the chance. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

He didn’t respond. Instead Naruto huffed. “Leave it to Sasuke to take up all of Sakura-chan’s attention. Once again.”

The room collectively rolled their eyes. “Get studying, you idiot,” Sakura replied, turning back to her copy of the Konoha Post, pointing out the funniest parts of the exclusive cover article to Yuki.

After a couple moments Naruto looked up from his papers. “Wait, but you won’t REALLY be in Suna this whole time, will you?!”

Sasuke clicked his tongue. “As if I’d trust you around my stuff without my supervision.”

\--

Hours slowly ticked by. The room remained relatively silent save for the frustrated sighs, groans, and low mumbles from Naruto. Finally, seeming to have given up on studying the mission material, Naruto got up with a start and began to pace.

He was clearly just nervous for the days ahead. Now that he was in the thick of the mission, he wasn't too keen on dealing with the inbetween. He just wanted it over with. The blond realized now that he and Shikamaru may have overlooked this area of Konoha more than they should’ve. This could’ve been an easier infiltration if there was at least some bridge of trust built between the dwellers of this closely knit neighborhood, but hindsight was always 20/20 and he would have to navigate these streets with extra care…something he tended to lack.

He turned to the others. “You guys think this mission will go okay?”

“Dobe…it’ll be fine. It’s a bunch of kids. They have like, what, some pocket knives?”

Sakura smiled warmly. “I honestly think the hardest part will be gaining their trust. After that…well…I don’t think civilians are naturally secretive people once they have built that trust. And Sasuke’s right. They’re kids and we’re veterans of the battlefield.” She held out and flexed an arm. "I think we can take them."

“And I’ll be here tomorrow afternoon so we can make our rounds. I don’t really talk to any of the people you’re looking for anymore, but I can certainly get you to the right people so you can track them down without it looking…suspicious," offered Yuki

Naruto sighed. “Yeah, I guess you’re right.” He shot a glare at Sasuke, who met his gaze with a flat stare. “I’m usually pretty confident with missions, don’t let this apprehension fool you…”

“Apprehension?” Sasuke felt a smirk tug at his mouth. He knew Naruto was nervous, diplomatically speaking. This wasn’t something easily fixed if anything went haywire, so he gave Naruto the best pep talk he could without giving away too much. “Was that your word of the day or something?”

And it seemed to have the effect he was going for as he watched the blond stop in his tracks and stick his tongue out at him, flopping down on the couch next to Sakura, and wiping the tired out of his eyes. Truly a relief to see that look of thinly veiled anxiety marking the Uzumaki's face disappear. “Baah!!!! I guess there’s no use worrying about something that can’t be changed. All we can do now is try our best to stop these hooligans and end this once and for all. And then maybe after that I can help draw up a plan with Shikamaru to gain the confidence and the trust of these outlier neighborhoods in order to build better communication to prevent something like this from happening in the future.” 

He sighed, his hands flopping to the side. He turned his head over to Sakura, and then to Sasuke. “Did anyone get that? Anyone write that down?”

Sakura rolled her eyes. “It doesn’t seem like a difficult plan to remember. A good barebones idea of what we can do POST mission, if anything, so we wouldn't have to worry about it until later.” 

“Hn,” said Sasuke. “Maybe there’s hope for you yet.”

Yuki frowned. “My only thing is…what about the shinobi that are using these substances as a means to like, escape? How will you address that? It's one thing to prevent the access, but what about the need?”

Naruto shot Yuki a withered stare. “Escape? Need? What?” It was then that Yuki realized that the ninja was under the impression that the dealers were seeking out the shinobi, and not the other way around. 

“Yeah, like, don’t you guys know about PTSD and have like trauma therapy and all that? Or….?” His went from curious to concerned in a matter of seconds as Sakura and Naruto stared at him blankly. 

Sasuke could be seen nudging Yuki with his elbow and muttering under his breath, “Simmer down, seriously, I don’t have the energy for one of your rants…”

“Trauma therapies?” Sakura asked, her eyebrows knitting together. “What do you mean by trauma? We’re shinobi. We’re trained to endure. Anyone who can’t handle that shouldn’t be one.”

Well...that was unexpected. Sasuke’s eyes widened and he averted his gaze to anywhere but Yuki’s reddening face and the doe-eyed curiousity of his old teammates. Even though she didn’t mean anything personal by it, it was still hard for him to come to grips with the whole concept of persevering in the face of nearly intolerable mental and emotional strain and how, in the end, after all the struggle, he simply wasn’t able to. 

Yuki opened his mouth wide as he prepared to completely blow his top when Sasuke slapped his hand over the youth’s mouth and yanked him off the couch. “I think you’ve had enough excitement for the night. Go home and do your homework before you mom starts hunting me down.”

At the doorway, Yuki and Sasuke exchanged a few heated words until Sasuke ushered him out of the door and calling out his goodbye down the stairway.

“What was that about?!” Naruto exclaimed.

Sasuke gave them a tight smile. “Ehhh, he's my apprentice and all but Yuki's really got his sights set on studying psychotherapies for post-trauma in some school out in the capitol. He has a lot of opinions on shinobi and how the system fails to recognize and treat mental health deterioration caused by…well…enduring, I guess.”

The room remained silent as Sasuke words sunk in. Naruto frowned while Sakura remembered her words from earlier and internally chided herself for speaking so freely, not knowing the details, but now guessing at them pretty quickly, as to why Sasuke backed down into civilian normalcy. Naruto's mind instantly flickered to when Sasuke showed him the little chest full of his old ninja stuff, and he felt a tiny pang in his chest. 

She opened her mouth with the beginnings of an apology at the tip of her tongue but Sasuke cut her off, not wanting to hear her edge around the fact that she had Realized and now pitied him (or whatever.) He stretched his arms up in a yawn. “I’m beat though. You guys must be too. I suggest we all go to bed. But if you do want to stay up, try to keep quiet…” he waved lazily as he padded down the hallway. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Sakura followed his receding back with sad eyes, and she sighed, feeling Naruto’s hand grip her shoulder. She turned to her best friend and teammate. “I feel like Sasuke is the only person that can make me feel so ignorant…not as a person this time around, but as a representative of Konoha, you know? I’m so…ashamed. Of everything.”

“Yeah…I know exactly what you mean.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> again srry if this is half-baked i try. next chapter will be full of fun narto +sakura mission ninja friednship montage and maybe some action like a punch or smth
> 
> ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯


End file.
